Racial differences in baroreflex function: Implications for the cardiovascular conundrum.

Study Objective: African Americans (AAs) show early signs of vascular dysfunction paired with elevated blood pressure (BP) and total peripheral resistance (TPR), which is thought to underlie their increased rates of cardiovascular health complications relative to European Americans (EAs). AAs paradoxically have higher cardiac vagal tone, indexed by heart rate variability (HRV), which is cardio-protective. This paradox has been termed the .

Multi-ethnic variation in the ties that bind rumination and heart rate variability: Implications for health disparities.

Higher self-reported rumination, a common form of trait perseverative cognition, is linked with lower resting heart rate variability (HRV), which indicates poorer cardiac function and greater disease risk. A meta-analysis and systematic review indicated that in samples with fewer European Americans, the association of rumination with both heart rate and blood pressure was stronger. Thus, trait rumination may be more strongly associated with resting HRV among ethnically minoritized populations.

Exhaustion and cardiovascular risk factors: the role of vagally-mediated heart rate variability.

Purpose: Exhaustion symptoms are known to be associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk; however, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Autonomic imbalance, as indicated by reductions in vagally-mediated heart rate variability (vmHRV), appears to be a valid candidate for such a biological link, as it has been associated with both exhaustion symptoms and CVD risk and mortality.

Methods: The present study examined a potential mediation of vmHRV on the association between exhaustion symptoms and self-reported CVD risk factors as well as the age dependency of this mediation in a large, heterogeneous sample of the Dresden Burnout Study (N = 388; 72.

Determining the direction of prediction of the association between parasympathetic dysregulation and exhaustion symptoms.

Stress-related exhaustion symptoms have a high prevalence which is only likely to increase further in the near future. Understanding the physiological underpinnings of exhaustion has important implications for accurate diagnosis and the development of effective prevention and intervention programs. Given its integrative role in stress-regulation, the parasympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous systems has been a valid starting point in the exploration of the physiological mechanisms behind exhaustion.

Associations between burnout symptoms and social behaviour: exploring the role of acute stress and vagal function.

Background: The study aimed to investigate the link between burnout symptoms and prosocial behaviour, as well as the role of acute stress and vagally-mediated heart rate variability (vmHRV) on this association.

Methods: Seventy men were randomly assigned to either the stress or the control condition of the Trier Social Stress Test for Groups (TSST-G). Prosocial behaviour was assessed via a social decision-making paradigm during the respective TSST-G condition.

Gender Differences in Cardiac Chronotropic Control: Implications for Heart Rate Variability Research.

There is a continuing debate concerning "adjustments" to heart period variability [i.e., heart rate variability (HRV)] for the heart period [i.

Ethnic and sex differences in the longitudinal association between heart rate variability and blood pressure.

Purpose: Elevated blood pressure is a risk factor for increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Decreased vagally-mediated heart rate variability has previously been prospectively linked with increased blood pressure; however, to date, no such prospective data exist regarding this relationship among Blacks.

Materials And Methods: We examined this association in 387 normotensive young adults (mean age, 23 years, 52% female, 54% Black) who participated in two laboratory evaluations spanning approximately six years.

Actigraphy-Derived Sleep Efficiency Is Associated With Endothelial Function in Men and Women With Untreated Hypertension.

Background: Poor sleep quality is increasingly recognized as an important and potentially modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Impaired endothelial function may be 1 mechanism underlying the association between poor sleep and CVD risk. The present study examined the relationship between objective measures of sleep quality and endothelial function in a sample of untreated hypertensive adults.

Ethnic Differences in Resting Total Peripheral Resistance: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Objective: Decades of research suggest that there may be important ethnic differences in the hemodynamic mechanisms that co-determine arterial blood pressure, the primary diagnostic index of hypertension. In general, studies have observed that, compared with European Americans (EAs), African Americans (AAs) exhibit higher total peripheral resistance (TPR), an important summative index of peripheral vascular constriction. In contrast, EAs have been reliably shown to exhibit greater cardiac output (CO), which is directly linked to left ventricle and overall cardiac blood flow.

Vascular α1-Adrenergic Receptor Responsiveness in Masked Hypertension.

Background: Masked hypertension (nonhypertensive in the clinic setting but hypertensive outside the clinic during wakefulness) is characterized by increased blood pressure in response to physical and emotional stressors that activate the sympathetic nervous system (SNS). However, no studies have assessed vascular reactivity to a pharmacological SNS challenge in individuals with masked hypertension.

Methods: We analyzed data from 161 adults aged 25 to 45 years (mean ± standard deviation age 33 ± 6 years; 48% were African American and 43% were female).

Past Discrimination, Race-Related Vigilance, and Depressive Symptoms: The Moderating Role of Mindfulness.

Objectives: African Americans experience numerous adverse health consequences due to race-related stress. Yet, mindfulness may serve as a relevant and vital protective factor in the link between race-related stressors and depressive symptoms for this population.

Methods: Data from 190 African American participants, ages 18-53, were used to investigate if past discrimination and race-related vigilance, two types of race-related stressors, interactively predicted greater depressive symptomatology among this sample.

Sex Differences in the Impact of Racial Discrimination on Mental Health Among Black Americans.

Purpose Of Review: Greater racial discrimination is associated with poorer mental health among Black Americans; yet, there remains an incomplete understanding of sex differences in exposure to racial discrimination, and further, of how sex differences in coping with racial discrimination may heighten or diminish risk for poorer mental health.

Recent Findings: Black men may experience greater exposure to both structural and communal forms of racial discrimination, whereas Black women may face both a wider range of potential sources, as well as encounter greater variability in the subjective experience of racial discrimination. For both Black women and men, racial discrimination may be similarly associated with maladaptive coping strategies (i.

Internalization of Western Ideals on Appearance and Self-Esteem in Jamaican Undergraduate Students.

Beauty ideals in the Caribbean are shifting with increased exposure to Western and European standards of appearance. Previous research has shown a consistent link between internalization of Western beauty ideals and depressive symptoms and other forms of psychological disturbance among diverse populations including Caribbeans. We examined the association between internalization of Western beauty ideals and depressive symptoms as well as the potential mediating role of self-esteem on this relation in N = 222 students (155 females, 79 males) attending a tertiary institution in Kingston, Jamaica.

The Longitudinal Association of Reduced Vagal Tone With Burnout.

Objective: Previous research indicates a link between burnout symptoms and reduced vagally mediated heart rate variability (HRV); however, the directionality of this relationship is still largely unknown. The objective of the present study was to examine the longitudinal relationship between HRV and burnout symptoms for 1 year, with a special focus on the emotional exhaustion (EE) burnout subdimension, which remains inadequately distinguished from overlapping with depressive symptoms.

Methods: Here we present HRV and behavioral data from 167 individuals (mean [SD] age = 43.

Examining reactivity patterns in burnout and other indicators of chronic stress.

Introduction: Burnout symptomatology is associated with various negative health consequences; however, the mechanisms underlying these associations remain unclear. One potential pathway involves alterations in the acute stress response. The aims of the present study were to examine burnout-associated alterations in stress-reactivity patterns, during a standardized social stressor compared to a control condition, as well as to examine whether effects associated with greater burnout symptomatology were distinct from other, conceptually overlapping indicators of chronic stress (i.

The Autonomic Nervous System and Hypertension: Ethnic Differences and Psychosocial Factors.

Purpose Of The Review: 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.

Recent Findings: 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.

Hemodynamic profile and compensation deficit in African and European Americans during physical and mental stress.

Increased vascular reactivity to stress has been suggested to contribute to the greater risk for developing hypertension in African Americans. Here, we examined the way (hemodynamic profile) and the extent to which (compensation deficit) cardiac output and total peripheral resistance compensate for each other in determining blood pressure responses to a physical (orthostasis) and a mental (anger recall) stress task, in normotensive African American (AA, n = 30) and European American (EA, n = 48) college students. Blood pressure stress reactivity did not differ as a function of race.

Active coping moderates associations among race-related stress, rumination, and depressive symptoms in emerging adult African American women.

Cross-sectional and longitudinal research has shown that race-related stress is associated with increased depressive symptoms among racial/ethnic minorities. Rumination has long been considered a maladaptive self-regulatory response to race-related stress, and growing evidence suggests that it may be an important link in the relation between race-related stress and depression. More adaptive forms of self-regulation, such as active coping, may counteract the negative impact of rumination.

The Effects of Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring on Sleep Quality in Men and Women With Hypertension: Dipper vs. Nondipper and Race Differences.

Background: The nondipping circadian blood pressure (BP) profile is associated with both poor sleep quality and increased cardiovascular risk. The present study aimed to clarify the potential confounding effects of 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) used to characterize the circadian BP profile by assessing its impact on sleep quality.

Methods: Participants were 121 middle-aged men and women with untreated hypertension (age = 46 ± 8 years; 43% women; 45% African-American).

Reduced self-regulation mirrors the distorting effects of burnout symptomatology on task difficulty perception during an inhibition task.

Burnout, a pathological consequence of chronic work stress, shows an increasing incidence rate in industrialized countries. Previous findings indicate that burnout may be linked to a detachment of the negative association between subjectively appraised task demand and cognitive performance, which is typically seen in healthy individuals. The present study sought to confirm this relationship and to investigate whether this dissociation is mirrored in a biological marker of self-regulation, i.

Impact of Racial Discrimination and Hostility on Adrenergic Receptor Responsiveness in African American Adults.

Objective: Racial discrimination is increasingly recognized as a contributor to increased cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk among African Americans. Previous research has shown significant overlap between racial discrimination and hostility, an established predictor of CVD risk including alterations in adrenergic receptor functioning. The present study examined the associations of racial discrimination and hostility with adrenergic receptor responsiveness.

Resting Heart Rate Variability, Facets of Rumination and Trait Anxiety: Implications for the Perseverative Cognition Hypothesis.

The perseverative cognition hypothesis (PCH) posits that perseveration, defined as the repetitive or sustained activation of cognitive representations of a real or imagined stressor, is a primary mechanism linking psychological (or stress) vulnerability with poor health and disease. Resting vagally mediated heart rate variability (vmHRV) is an important indicator of self-regulatory abilities, stress vulnerability and overall health. Those with lower resting vmHRV are more vulnerable to stress, and thus more likely to engage in perseverative cognition and experience subsequent negative mental health outcomes such as anxiety.

Stereotype threat, trait perseveration, and vagal activity: evidence for mechanisms underpinning health disparities in Black Americans.

Black Americans (BAs) are at an elevated risk for morbidity and mortality in comparison to White Americans (WAs). Racial stressors are a common occurrence in American culture and is theorized to contribute to these disparities. When race-focused, stereotype threat (ST) is considered to be a factor that is detrimental to health in BAs; however few studies have directly investigated the impact of a ST manipulation on physiological function.

Circadian hemodynamics in men and women with high blood pressure: dipper vs. nondipper and racial differences.

Objective: The 'nondipping' pattern of circadian blood pressure (BP) variation is an established independent predictor of adverse cardiovascular outcomes. Although this phenomenon has been widely studied, its underlying circadian hemodynamics of cardiac output and systemic vascular resistance (SVR) have not been well characterized. We evaluated the hypothesis that BP nondipping would be associated with a blunted night-time reduction in SVR in a biracial sample of 140 (63 African-American and 77 white) men and women with elevated clinic BP (130-159/85-99 mmHg).