Neuroendocrine and cardiovascular stress reactivity in middle-aged normotensive adults with parental history of cardiovascular disease.

Neuroendocrine and cardiovascular stress reactivity was studied in healthy middle-aged individuals whose parental history included essential hypertension and/or myocardial infarction and a control group without parental history of cardiovascular disease. All subjects completed a rest session (1 hour) and a stress session (1 hour). The stress session included behavioral (mirror image tracing, mental arithmetic, and the Stroop color word conflict test) and physical stressors (the cold pressor test and isometric exercise). Systolic and diastolic blood pressures and heart rate were recorded at baseline before and during all stressors. Specimens for determination of urinary catecholamines and cortisol were sampled after the rest and stress sessions respectively. Generally, a parental history of hypertension but not of myocardial infarction influenced neuroendocrine and cardiovascular stress reactivity. A family history of hypertension was associated with exaggerated epinephrine, norepinephrine, and cortisol excretion during stress and with enhanced heart-rate reactivity to behavioral (mental arithmetic and mirror image tracing) but not to physical stressors (isometric exercise or the cold pressor test). We conclude that individuals with a family history of hypertension tend to display exaggerated cardiovascular and neuroendocrine reactivity to stress.