Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA.
Center for Biobehavioral Health Disparities Research, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
Curr Cardiol Rep. 2019 Feb 28;21(3):15. doi: 10.1007/s11886-019-1100-5.
In the present paper, we overview emerging research examining the autonomic nervous system (ANS), especially the parasympathetic nervous system as indexed by heart rate variability (HRV), and the impact of psychosocial factors on hypertension-related disease in African Americans.
A growing corpus of studies has shown that (1) usual patterns of compensatory sympathetic-parasympathetic regulation differ between African Americans and European Americans; (2) despite their enhanced cardiovascular disease risk profile, African Americans tend to exhibit higher HRV relative to European Americans; and (3) racial discrimination and other forms of psychosocial stress are associated with diminished HRV among African Americans. Significant disparities in hypertension-related disease exist such that African Americans have greater risk. The underlying factors associated with this increased risk are, to date, not fully understood. The present review provides evidence for a unique pattern of ANS regulation in African Americans and shows that psychosocial factors such as racial discrimination may contribute to this paradoxical situation.
在本文中，我们综述了新兴的研究，这些研究检查了自主神经系统（ANS），特别是心率变异性（HRV）作为副交感神经系统的指标，以及心理社会因素对非裔美国人高血压相关疾病的影响。
越来越多的研究表明，（1）非洲裔美国人和欧洲裔美国人之间通常的交感神经-副交感神经补偿调节模式不同；（2）尽管非裔美国人的心血管疾病风险较高，但与欧洲裔美国人相比，他们的 HRV 往往更高；（3）种族歧视和其他形式的心理社会压力与非裔美国人 HRV 的降低有关。在高血压相关疾病方面存在显著差异，非裔美国人的风险更高。迄今为止，与这种增加的风险相关的潜在因素尚未完全理解。本综述为非裔美国人独特的自主神经调节模式提供了证据，并表明种族歧视等心理社会因素可能导致这种矛盾的情况。
