Nyklícek Ivan, Bosch Jos A, Amerongen Arie V Nieuw
Department of Psychology and Health, Tilburg University, P.O. Box 90153, 5000 LE Tilburg, The Netherlands.
Biol Psychol. 2005 Sep;70(1):44-51. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2004.11.013.
Hypertensives have consistently been found to have a more reactive cardiovascular system than normotensives. In the present study, it was examined whether this enhanced cardiovascular stress reactivity generalizes to the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and the immune system. Forty-two unmedicated hypertensives and 21 normotensive controls performed five passive coping and active coping stressful tasks in the laboratory. In addition to the expected greater mean diastolic blood pressure reactivity to the tasks, hypertensives exhibited enhanced (baseline corrected) task salivary cortisol and secretory immunoglobulin A (S-IgA) levels. Moreover, correlations were found between blood pressure responses and task related cortisol activity and between baseline blood pressure levels and task-induced S-IgA levels. These results indicate that hypertensives not only have a hyperreactive cardiovascular system, but also an enhanced HPA axis and immune system reactivity to stress. A central stress mechanism may be responsible for the heightened generalized stress response in hypertensives.
