TY - JOUR
T1 - Linking daily stress processes and laboratory-based heart rate variability in a national sample of midlife and older adults
AU - Sin, Nancy L.
AU - Sloan, Richard P.
AU - McKinley, Paula S.
AU - Almeida, David M.
N1 - Funding Information:
Source of Funding and Conflicts of Interest: Nancy Sin was supported by National Institute on Aging Grant F32AG048698. The Midlife in the US investigation was supported by National Institute on Aging Grant P01- AG020166 to conduct a longitudinal follow-up. The original study was supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Successful Midlife Development. The Midlife in the US Biomarker Project was supported by the following grants: M01-RR023942 (Georgetown University), M01-RR00865 (University of California, Los Angeles) from the General Clinical Research Centers Program, and 1UL1RR025011 (University of Wisconsin) from the Clinical and Translational Science Award program of the National Center for Research Resources, National Institutes of Health. The funding sources had no involvement in the study design; data collection, analysis, or interpretation; or the writing and submission of this manuscript. The authors have no conflicts of interest to report.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 by the American Psychosomatic Society.
PY - 2016/6/1
Y1 - 2016/6/1
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
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U2 - 10.1097/PSY.0000000000000306
DO - 10.1097/PSY.0000000000000306
M3 - Article
C2 - 26867082
AN - SCOPUS:84957837382
VL - 78
SP - 573
EP - 582
JO - Psychosomatic Medicine
JF - Psychosomatic Medicine
SN - 0033-3174
IS - 5
ER -