Department of Clinical Physiology, University of Trier, Institute of Psychobiology, Trier, Germany.
Int J Psychophysiol. 2011 Mar;79(3):364-70. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2010.12.004. Epub 2010 Dec 22.
Anger has been implicated in the etiology of hypertensive disease. Trait anger has been linked to enhanced cardiovascular responsiveness. However, whether this association reflects differences in context appraisal or a general hyper-reactivity of the cardiovascular system remains unclear. We studied the cardiovascular response to acoustic startle probes in 76 healthy Caucasian males in different affective contices (pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant). All participants completed the State-Trait-Anger-Expression-Inventory (STAXI) by Spielberger and the results were analysed with stepwise regression analysis according to the anger scores and traditional risk factors for hypertension. Our study reveals differential modulation of the cardiovascular response to startle stimuli by affective pictures in the dimensions "valence" for heart rate and "arousal" for blood pressure. Anger-in was identified as the most important determinant for blood pressure responses in unpleasant context, while anger-out was associated with less cardiovascular activation in neutral context. This is the first study that relates trait anger to cardiovascular reactivity and affective reflex modulation in normotensive subjects. We could demonstrate an interaction of affective context and trait anger for cardiovascular (hyper-)reactivity. Increased cardiovascular reactivity for higher scores of anger-in in unpleasant context may indicate enhanced sympathetic reactivity and constitute a risk factor for the development of essential hypertension.
愤怒与高血压的病因有关。特质愤怒与增强的心血管反应性有关。然而，这种关联是否反映了在环境评估方面的差异，还是心血管系统的一般过度反应仍不清楚。我们在不同的情感环境（愉快、中性和不愉快）中研究了 76 名健康白种男性对声音惊吓探针的心血管反应。所有参与者都完成了 Spielberger 的状态-特质愤怒表达量表（STAXI），并根据愤怒得分和高血压的传统危险因素进行逐步回归分析。我们的研究揭示了情感图片对心率的“效价”和血压的“唤醒”维度对惊吓刺激的心血管反应的不同调节。愤怒内被确定为不愉快情境中血压反应的最重要决定因素，而愤怒外与中性情境中较少的心血管激活有关。这是第一项将特质愤怒与正常血压受试者的心血管反应性和情感反射调节相关联的研究。我们可以证明情感环境和特质愤怒之间的相互作用会导致心血管（过度）反应性。在不愉快的环境中，愤怒内评分较高的心血管反应性增强可能表明交感神经反应增强，并构成原发性高血压发展的危险因素。
