From the Department of Behavioural Science and Health, Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
Psychosom Med. 2023 Apr 1;85(3):280-288. doi: 10.1097/PSY.0000000000001169. Epub 2023 Jan 21.
Central adiposity is associated with impaired biological responses to mental stress, and socioeconomic status (SES) might moderate this relationship. However, evidence for associations between pericardial fat, a fat depot implicated in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease (CVD), with cardiovascular and inflammatory responses to mental stress is lacking, and moderation by SES is unknown.
The sample was 473 healthy men and women (mean age = 62.8 years) from the Whitehall II study. Cardiovascular and inflammatory responses to laboratory-induced mental stress, consisting of a 5-minute Stroop task and 5-minute mirror tracing task, were assessed. Pericardial fat volume was measured using electron bean computed tomography and adjusted for body surface area. SES was defined by grade of employment within the British civil service (higher/intermediate/lower).
Pericardial fat was associated with lower heart rate variability, raised heart rate, plasma interleukin-6, fibrinogen, and C-reactive protein at baseline. Furthermore, greater pericardial fat was associated with lower systolic blood pressure reactivity to mental stress, independent of sociodemographics, smoking status, waist-to-hip ratio, and baseline systolic blood pressure. There were no interactions between pericardial fat and SES for any outcome.
Greater pericardial fat was associated with numerous cardiovascular and inflammatory factors implicated in CVD. It was also related to reduced systolic blood pressure reactivity to acute mental stress, independent of central adiposity and baseline systolic blood pressure. This association did not vary by SES. Reduced systolic blood pressure reactivity to mental stress might contribute to the association between greater pericardial fat and CVD.
中心性肥胖与精神应激时生物学反应受损有关，社会经济地位（SES）可能会调节这种关系。然而，尚缺乏心外膜脂肪（一种与心血管疾病（CVD）发病机制有关的脂肪沉积）与精神应激时心血管和炎症反应之间关联的证据，并且 SES 的调节作用尚不清楚。
该样本来自 Whitehall II 研究的 473 名健康男性和女性（平均年龄=62.8 岁）。使用电子束计算机断层扫描（EBCT）测量心外膜脂肪体积，并按体表面积进行校正。采用英国公务员等级（高/中/低）定义 SES。评估了实验室诱发的精神应激（包括 5 分钟 Stroop 任务和 5 分钟镜像追踪任务）引起的心血管和炎症反应。
心外膜脂肪与静息时较低的心率变异性、较高的心率、较高的血浆白细胞介素-6、纤维蛋白原和 C 反应蛋白相关。此外，心外膜脂肪较多与精神应激时的收缩压反应性降低独立相关，与社会人口统计学、吸烟状况、腰围与臀围比和基线收缩压无关。心外膜脂肪与 SES 之间没有任何结果存在交互作用。
更大的心外膜脂肪与 CVD 中多种心血管和炎症因素相关。它还与急性精神应激时收缩压反应性降低有关，独立于中心性肥胖和基线收缩压。这种关联不受 SES 影响。精神应激时收缩压反应性降低可能是心外膜脂肪与 CVD 之间关联的原因之一。
