Psychological Factors and Blood Pressure Responses to Acute Stress in Women with Takotsubo Syndrome: An Exploratory Study.

Aims: This secondary analysis aimed to: 1) describe psychological resources and distress in women with Takotsubo Syndrome (TS), and 2) explore whether such factors affect blood pressure (BP) responses to acute mental stress.

Methods And Results: Participants were 47 women consecutively enrolled in an ongoing study examining the prognostic significance of stress reactivity in TS. Psychological resources (resilience, adaptive coping) and distress (depression, anxiety, PTSD, perceived stress) were self-reported using validated questionnaires <12 weeks after TS.

Protocol for a randomized controlled trial comparing phone-based prenatal mindfulness training to usual care for pregnant people at risk for hypertensive disorders of pregnancy.

Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) are the most common medical conditions in pregnancy and a leading cause of maternal morbidity and mortality in the United States. There are few interventions available to prevent HDP, and those currently available do not target underlying mechanisms of disease. Mindfulness training (MT) is effective at reducing blood pressure in non-pregnant patients with pre-hypertension and hypertension and has proven more effective at blood pressure reduction than other stress management interventions.

Sleep Quality in High-Risk Pregnancies: Mixed Methods Results from a Randomized Controlled Trial of a Mindfulness Training Intervention.

Sleep difficulties in pregnancy are common and increase the risk for obstetric complications. Past research shows that mindfulness training (MT) is helpful for improving sleep in non-pregnant adults and may improve sleep during pregnancy. However, it is unknown if MT improves sleep among pregnant people at risk for obstetric complications.

Systolic Blood Pressure and Survival to Very Old Age: Results From the Women's Health Initiative.

Background: The relationship between systolic blood pressure (SBP) and longevity is not fully understood. We aimed to determine which SBP levels in women ≥65 years of age with or without blood pressure medication were associated with the highest probability of surviving to 90 years of age.

Methods: The study population consisted of 16 570 participants enrolled in the Women's Health Initiative who were eligible to survive to 90 years of age by February 28, 2020, without a history of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, or cancer.

Effects of stress management interventions on heart rate variability in adults with cardiovascular disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Meta-analysis was used to investigate the potential benefits of stress management interventions (SMIs) on vagally-mediated heart rate variability (HRV) in adults with cardiovascular disease. Electronic bibliographic databases were searched through August 2022. Randomized controlled trials and quasi-experimental studies assessing effects of SMIs on HRV were included.

Mental and Physical Health Impacts of Mindfulness Training for College Undergraduates: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.

Background: Universities increasingly offer mindfulness-based programs (MBPs) to improve student health and reduce their impact on overburdened psychological services. It is critical for evidence-based policy to determine for what health outcomes mindfulness programs are effective and under what conditions. Objectives were to: (a) perform a comprehensive analysis of the effects of mindfulness interventions on physical, mental, and behavioral health outcomes in college undergraduate students, and (b) examine moderators of intervention effects to identify factors that may help improve existing university mindfulness programs and guide the design of new programs.

Association Between Insomnia, Stress Events, and Other Psychosocial Factors and Incident Atrial Fibrillation in Postmenopausal Women: Insights From the Women's Health Initiative.

Background The association between psychosocial factors and atrial fibrillation (AF) is poorly understood. Methods and Results Postmenopausal women from the Women's Health Initiative were retrospectively analyzed to identify incident AF in relation to a panel of validated psychosocial exposure variables, as assessed by multivariable Cox proportional hazard regression and hierarchical cluster analysis. Among the 83 736 women included, the average age was 63.

Systolic Blood Pressure and Survival to Very Old Age. Results from the Women's Health Initiative.

Background: The association between systolic blood pressure (SBP) and longevity is not fully understood. We aimed to determine survival probabilities to age 90 for various SBP levels among women aged ≥ 65 years with or without BP medication.

Methods: We analyzed blood pressure data from participants in the Women's Health Initiative (n=16,570) who were aged 65 or older and without history of cardiovascular disease, diabetes or cancer.

What is the role of interoception in the symptom experience of people with a chronic condition? A systematic review.

Background: Interoception, the ability of the organism to sense, interpret, and regulate signals originating from within the body, plays an important role in how individuals perceive and respond to symptoms. However, there is scarce evidence on the role of interoception in the symptom experience of people with chronic conditions.

Aim: To synthesize the role of interoception in the symptom experience of adults with a chronic condition.

Mindfulness-Based Interventions for Patients with Cardiovascular Disease: A Focused Review for Practicing Clinicians.

Purpose Of Review: With growing scientific and public interest in the health benefits of mindfulness, clinicians increasingly face questions and solicitations for advice from patients about the efficacy of mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) for cardiovascular disease (CVD). In this clinician-focused review, we aim to revisit empirical studies on MBIs for CVD with the purpose of informing clinicians' decisions on how to provide recommendations consistent with updated scientific findings to patients interested in MBIs.

Recent Findings: We start by defining MBIs and identifying the possible physiological, psychological, behavioral, and cognitive mechanisms underlying the potentially positive effects of MBIs for CVD.

Mind Your Heart-II: Protocol for a behavioral randomized controlled trial of mindfulness training to promote self-care in patients with comorbid heart failure and cognitive impairment.

Background: Heart failure (HF) self-care is a robust predictor of prognosis in HF patients. Cognitive impairment is a common comorbidity in HF patients and constitutes a major challenge to HF self-care. Mindfulness training (MT) has been shown to improve cognitive function and interoception, two components essential to promoting effective HF self-care.

Feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effects of mindfulness training on antenatal blood pressure.

Background: Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) are one of the greatest causes of perinatal morbidity and mortality. Mindfulness training (MT) significantly reduces blood pressure in non-pregnant adults, yet MT has not been tested to reduce blood pressure in the prenatal period.

Objectives: The objectives of this pilot randomized clinical trial were to test the feasibility, acceptability, and effects of MT on rates of HDP among pregnant participants at risk for HDP.

The relationship between depressive symptoms and subtypes of mild cognitive impairment in post-menopausal women: Results from the Women's Health Initiative Memory Study.

Background: Depressive symptoms are associated with age-related cognitive impairment, but the relative risk of specific subtypes of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) conferred by depressive symptoms is unclear. The purpose of this exploratory study was to determine the longitudinal association between baseline depressive symptoms and incident cases of MCI subtypes (amnestic vs. non-amnestic) and probable dementia (PD) (Alzheimer's disease, vascular, mixed) among postmenopausal women.

Optimism, lifestyle, and longevity in a racially diverse cohort of women.

Background: Research has suggested optimism is associated with healthy aging and exceptional longevity, but most studies were conducted among non-Hispanic White populations. We examined associations of optimism to longevity across racial and ethnic groups and assessed healthy lifestyle as a possible mediating pathway.

Methods: Participants from the Women's Health Initiative (N = 159,255) completed a validated measure of optimism and provided other demographic and health data at baseline.

Mind Your Heart: Exploring Feasibility, Acceptability, and Preliminary Effects of Phone-Delivered Mindfulness Training on Medication Adherence in Outpatients With Chronic Heart Failure.

Background: Mindfulness training (MT) may promote medication adherence in outpatients with heart failure.

Objective: The aims of this study were to determine the feasibility and acceptability of MT (primary outcomes) and explore effects on medication adherence, functional capacity, cognitive function, depression, and mindfulness skills (secondary outcomes).

Methods: In this pre/post-design study, participants received a 30-minute phone-delivered MT session weekly for 8 weeks.

Stress management interventions for adults with heart failure: Systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objective: Stress management interventions (SMIs) targeting psychological stress and other psychosocial factors associated with heart failure (HF) morbidity and mortality are increasingly recommended for adults with HF. SMI content and delivery varies widely and meta-analyses are needed to synthesize current findings to identify gaps in the literature. The purpose of this meta-analysis is to examine the efficacy of SMIs for improving anxiety, depressive symptoms, exercise capacity, and disease-specific quality of life in adults with HF.

Exploring Effects of Aerobic Exercise and Mindfulness Training on Cognitive Function in Older Adults at Risk of Dementia: A Feasibility, Proof-of-Concept Study.

Objectives: This study sought to explore feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effects of aerobic training (AT), mindfulness training (MT), or both (MT + AT) on cognitive function in older individuals at risk of dementia.

Method: Participants were randomized to AT, MT, both, or usual care (UC). Z-scores of attention, verbal fluency, and episodic memory for non-demented adults (ZAVEN) were computed at baseline, end of treatment (EOT), and 6 months since baseline.

Immediate and long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown on physical activity in patients with implanted cardiac devices.

Background: Physical activity (PA) is an important determinant of cardiovascular health that may be affected the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, we examined the immediate and long-term effects of the pandemic and lockdown on PA in patients with established cardiovascular risk.

Methods: Objectively-measured daily PA data was obtained from cardiovascular implantable electronic devices (CIEDs) from 3453 U.

A treatment in search of a disease? Challenges in mindfulness research and practice.

'Mindfulness' has become a mainstream component of American culture and a successful business worth more than 1 billion dollars. Born out of Buddhist contemplative traditions that reached the West in the mid-1960s, secular mindfulness programs have spread both geographically (to the US and Europe) and socially (to healthcare, academia, politics, the military, and finance). The diffusion of mindfulness practice to domains that are culturally and socially so different from its original Buddhist context has had important consequences.