Linking Daily Stress Processes and Laboratory-Based Heart Rate Variability in a National Sample of Midlife and Older Adults

Bibliographic Data

ID19307461
AuthorsNancy Sin (0000-0003-2519-7797, New York Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, corresponding author), Richard P Sloan (0000-0003-4999-9209), Paula S Mckinley (0000-0002-2479-4541), D M Almeida (0000-0002-5233-8148)
Year2016
Volume78
Issue5
Pages573-582
Publication date2016-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenuePsychosomatic Medicine (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0033-3174 • E-ISSN: 1534-7796
PublisherOvid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1097/psy.0000000000000306
PMID26867082
OpenAlexW2342372253
LanguageEN
Citations received10
References cited59

OBJECTIVE: This study evaluates the associations between people's trait-like patterns of stress in daily life (stressor frequency, perceived stressor severity, affective reactivity to stressors, and negative affect) and laboratory-assessed heart rate variability (HRV). METHODS: Data were collected from 909 participants aged 35 to 85 years in the Midlife in the United States Study. Participants reported negative affect and minor stressful events during telephone interviews on 8 consecutive evenings. On a separate occasion, HRV was measured from electrocardiograph recordings taken at rest during a laboratory-based psychophysiology protocol. Regression models were used to evaluate the associations between daily stress processes and three log-transformed HRV indices: standard deviation of R-R intervals (SDRR), root mean square of successive differences (RMSSD), and high-frequency power (high-frequency HRV [HF-HRV]). Analyses were adjusted for demographics, body mass index, comorbid conditions, medications, physical activity, and smoking. RESULTS: Stressor frequency was unrelated to HRV (r values ranging from -0.04 to -0.01, p values >.20). However, people with greater perceived stressor severity had lower resting SDRR (fully adjusted B [standard error {SE}] = -0.05 [0.02]), RMSSD (-0.08 [0.03]), and HF-HRV (-0.16 [0.07]). Individuals with more pronounced affective reactivity to stressors also had lower levels of all three HRV indices (SDRR: B [SE] = -0.28 [0.14]; RMSSD: -0.44 [0.19]; HF-HRV: -0.96 [0.37]). Furthermore, aggregated daily negative affect was linked to reduced RMSSD (B [SE] = -0.16 [0.08]) and HF-HRV (-0.35 [0.15]). CONCLUSIONS: In a national sample, individual differences in daily negative affect and responses to daily stressors were more strongly related to cardiovascular autonomic regulation than the frequency of such stressors

Blood pressure · Developmental psychology · Heart rate · Heart rate variability · Sample (material) · Sociology · Stress (linguistics) · Clinical Psychology · Demography · Heart Rate Variability and Autonomic Control · Internal Medicine · Medicine · Mental Health Research Topics · Psychology · Stress Responses and Cortisol · Gerontology

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