Lower Perceived Socioeconomic Status is Associated with Exaggerated Cardiovascular Reactivity to Stress

Adelsheim, Lee Ann

Lower Perceived Socioeconomic Status is Associated with Exaggerated Cardiovascular Reactivity to Stress

Persistent URL

http://hdl.handle.net/10456/37118

Author(s)

Adelsheim, Lee Ann

Date Issued

November 25, 2014

Abstract

Cardiovascular reactivity to mental stress is a known predictor of future cardiovascular health. Stress response is regulated by the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and can be altered by repeated activation (Gruenewald et al., 2012). Chronic stress from growing up in a lower socioeconomic status (SES) community can change how the HPA axis responds to acute stress (McEwen & Gianaros, 2010). This study investigated the relationship between SES and cardiovascular reactivity in young adults. SES was measured on both the community and US based MacArthur Scales of Subjective Social Status (Adler & Stewart, 2007). Systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), pulse and mean arterial pressure (MAP) were measured throughout the PASAT, a cognitive stress task (Carroll, Phillips, & Balanos, 2009). SBP reactivity (F(1, 24)= 4.633, p= 0.42, ηp2= 0.162) and MAP reactivity (F(1, 24)= 4.314, p= 0.049, ηp2= 0.152) were significantly different between high community SES group and low community SES group but not the US SES groups. These findings support other findings correlating SBP with SES in other age groups and the effects of remodeling in the amygdala (Brummett et al., 2011; McEwen, 2007).

Major

Global Health Studies

Neuroscience

First Reader(s)

Conklin, Sarah M.