Recurrent depression predicts high leptin concentrations in patients with coronary artery disease over an 18-months follow-up period: Findings from the prospective multicenter randomized controlled SPIRR-CAD Trial.

Background: Leptin, an adipokine suspected to play a role in coronary artery disease (CAD), may also be associated with deteriorated mental health. We investigated the prospective impact of recurrent depressed mood (RDM) on heightened plasma leptin levels in CAD patients.

Methods: Derived from the randomized SPIRR-CAD trial, plasma leptin were measured by the Human Leptin DuoSet ELISA at baseline in 539 patients (including 115 (21.

Longitudinal relationship between B-type natriuretic peptide and anxiety in coronary heart disease patients with depression.

Objective: Patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) suffer from physical limitations, but also from psychological distress. Natriuretic peptides may be involved in the neurobiological processes that modulate psychological adaptation, as they are increased in heart disease and seem to have an anxiolytic-like function. Longitudinal data on this association are scarce.

Significance of psychosocial factors in cardiology: update 2018 : Position paper of the German Cardiac Society.

Background: Psychosocial factors in cardiovascular diseases are increasingly acknowledged by patients, health care providers and payer organizations. Due to the rapidly increasing body of evidence, the German Cardiac Society has commissioned an update of its 2013 position paper on this topic. The German version was published in 2018 and the current manuscript is an extended translation of the original version.

Associations of NT-proBNP and parameters of mental health in depressed coronary artery disease patients.

Natriuretic peptides (NP) are involved in the regulation of blood pressure and blood volume, and are elevated in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). They are used as markers for illness severity, but their role in mental health is not well understood. Recently, A-type NP (ANP) has been associated with reduced anxiety in studies on cardiac patients; however, this study is the first to assess this effect for B-type NP (BNP) and for further dimensions of well-being and mental health.

Heart Rate Variability during Inpatient Psychosomatic Treatment - A Naturalistic Observational Study.

Objectives: We tested the hypothesis that inpatient psychosomatic treatment would improve both psychological distress and autonomic dysfunction, indexed as heart rate variability (HRV).

Methods: 135 patients (mean age 47.2 years, 68.

Short-term effects of espresso coffee on heart rate variability and blood pressure in habitual and non-habitual coffee consumers--a randomized crossover study.

Objective: Coffee is one of the most widely consumed beverages worldwide. Aim of this study was to investigate short-term effects of espresso coffee on heart rate variability (HRV), a marker of vagal activity, in healthy habitual and non-habitual coffee consumers.

Methods: Seventy-seven healthy subjects (38 habitual and 39 non-habitual coffee consumers, 74% women, mean age 26.

Autonomic effects of suggestive placebo interventions to increase or decrease blood pressure: a randomized controlled trial in healthy subjects.

Objective: Placebo effects on pain and other subjective parameters are well-established, but the evidence for placebo effects on autonomic functions is scarce. Our randomized-controlled trial aimed to investigate autonomic responses after a suggestive placebo intervention intended to increase or decrease blood pressure (BP).

Methods: 92 healthy subjects inhaled a placebo spray with the prior suggestion that it contained an effective drug to either increase or decrease BP, or the information that a placebo was administered (controls).

Acute psychological stress increases peripheral blood CD3+CD56+ natural killer T cells in healthy men: possible implications for the development and treatment of allergic and autoimmune disorders.

Acute psychological stress has primarily been investigated regarding its effects on conventional lymphocytes such as natural killer (NK) cells and CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells. However, it might be important to focus on more "specialized" lymphocyte subsets, playing a role, for instance, in allergic conditions and autoimmunity, to identify links between stress, the immune system and somatic diseases. Using flow cytometry we determined frequencies of circulating T helper (Th)1-type (CD226(+)) and Th2-type (CRTH2(+)) T cells, γδ T cells, conventional CD56(+) natural killer T (NKT) cells and invariant NKT cells (iNKT) in healthy young males (N = 31; median age 26 years) undergoing a laboratory computer-based stressor lasting 12 min.

[C reactive protein in women with coronary heart disease and its association with depression].

Objectives: Depression is associated with increased risk and poor outcome of coronary heart disease (CHD), though the mechanisms are largely unknown. Low-grade inflammation offers a possible biological pathway, which has been confirmed in men but not in women.

Methods: We studied the association of C reactive protein (CRP), a biomarker of inflammation, with depressive symptoms in 292 women with CHD and 300 healthy age-matched controls, considering confounder variables (BMI, age, HDL cholesterol, triglycerides, menopausal status).

Anxiety as predictor of the cortisol awakening response in patients with coronary heart disease.

Background: Anxiety is associated with worse outcomes in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD). A dysregulation of the HPA axis is a potential mechanism linking psychological factors and coronary disease. No study has yet investigated the relationship between anxiety and cortisol among patients with established CHD.

Depressive symptoms and heart rate variability in younger women after an acute coronary event.

Objectives: We investigated associations between depressive symptoms and reduced heart rate variability (HRV) in women aged 30-65 years after an acute coronary event.

Background: Younger women have an increased mortality after myocardial infarction compared with men of similar age. Depression was hypothesized to contribute to the poor prognosis, possibly mediated by increased susceptibility to arrhythmias.

Low vagal tone is associated with impaired post stress recovery of cardiovascular, endocrine, and immune markers.

Reduced heart rate variability (HRV) and delayed blood pressure recovery are associated with increased cardiovascular risk. Besides this evident link, the vagus is thought to play an inhibitory role in the regulation of other allostatic systems, including inflammation and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. However, human evidence is scarce.

Decrease of CD4(+)FOXP3(+) T regulatory cells in the peripheral blood of human subjects undergoing a mental stressor.

We have previously shown that acute psychological stress alerts the adaptive immune response causing an increase in antigen-experienced effector T cells in the peripheral blood. T regulatory cells (Tregs) play a central role in maintaining self-tolerance and controlling autoimmune responses. Here, we analyzed for the first time the behaviour of Tregs in the context of a stress-induced activation of the adaptive immune response.

Melatonin improves memory acquisition under stress independent of stress hormone release.

Rationale: Animal studies suggest that the pineal hormone melatonin influences basal stress hormone levels and dampens hormone reactivity to stress.

Objectives: We investigated whether melatonin also has a suppressive effect on stress-induced catecholamine and cortisol release in humans. As stress hormones affect memory processing, we further examined a possible accompanying modulation of memory function.

Emotional irritation before mental stress is associated with enhanced peripheral norepinephrine.

Research suggests equivocal findings on associations of catecholamines and mood. Our study investigated the associations of emotional state, blood pressure and catecholamines in 55 healthy males undergoing mental stress. We especially checked the reported link between norepinephrine (NE) and emotional irritation.

Cardiovascular reactivity of patients with essential and renal hypertension in an emotion-triggering interview.

Blood pressure reactivity to mental stress in hypertensives is much higher than in normotensives. The authors' aim in this study was to examine whether different cardiovascular responses can be induced by various stimuli in hypertensive subgroups. The authors matched 10 essential hypertensives (EHs), 10 renal hypertensives (RHs), and 10 normotensives (Ns) according to age and gender examined them during an emotion-stimulating interview, and measured blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) during the phases of the interview.

Acute psychological stress alerts the adaptive immune response: stress-induced mobilization of effector T cells.

Influences of psychological stress on the acquired immune system have not consequently been investigated. We found acute psychological stress to cause an increase in CD56+ and CCR5+ effector T cells in the peripheral blood of healthy human subjects (N=22), while skin-homing CLA+ T cells decreased. At the same time, we observed a stress-induced decrease in CD45RA+/CCR7+ naive and CD45RA-/CCR7+ central memory T cells, while CD45RA-/CCR7- effector memory and CD45RA+/CCR7- terminally differentiated T cells increased.