SP 11: Accelerated Vascular Aging in Midlife as a Mechanism Linking Daily Stress to Cognitive Decline

Despite mounting evidence that greater affective responsivity to naturally occurring daily stressors is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), few studies have examined dysregulation of the sympathetic nervous system as a potential mechanism. We hypothesized that greater affective responsivity to daily stressful events would be related to increased urinary catecholamine excretion. Daily stress processes (8-day daily diary) were assessed in 715 middle-aged adults (56 ± 11 yr; 57% female) from the Midlife in the United States Study. Urinary norepinephrine and epinephrine concentrations were also measured (24 h; normalized to creatinine). Multilevel modeling was used to calculate negative and positive affective responsivity (i.e., the slope of the within-person differences in negative and positive affect on stressor days compared with stressor-free days). Analyses controlled for relevant…

Heightened negative affective responsivity (NA-R) to daily stressors predicts increased cardiovascular disease (CVD)-related morbidity and mortality. Although greater daily stressor exposure has been linked to disrupted microvascular homeostasis, whether NA-R to daily stressors is associated with endothelial dysfunction remains unclear. Accordingly, the objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that greater NA-R to daily stressors would be related to reductions in microvascular endothelium-dependent dilation (EDD). Twenty-three young-to-middle aged adults (19 female; 18-53yrs) completed a daily mobile app-based interview for 8 consecutive days to assess daily stress processes and affective dynamics. On day 9, red cell flux (laser Doppler flowmetry) was measured in response to a standard local heating protocol (42°C) followed by intradermal microdialysis perfusion of N(G)-nitro-l-arginine methyl …

Young women, who suffer from major depressive disorder (MDD) at twice the rate as young men, are particularly vulnerable to cardiovascular events triggered by emotional stress, an association that may be partially explained by excessive sympathetic activation. However, no studies have directly measured sympathetic activity during acute emotional stress in young women with MDD. We hypothesized that the muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA) response to acute emotional stress would be greater in young women with MDD (18–30 yrs) compared to healthy non-depressed young women. MSNA (peroneal microneurography) and beat-to-beat blood pressure (BP; finger photoplethysmography) were measured at rest and during acute emotional stress evoked by viewing negative images selected from the International Affective Picture System in 17 healthy young women and in 30 young women with MDD of …

Despite mounting evidence that young adults experience greater exposure and affective responsivity to daily stressors than middle-aged and older adults, few studies have examined potential sex differences in these daily stress processes in young adults. We tested the hypotheses that young women would experience (1) a greater percentage of days with at least one daily stressor event and (2) exaggerated negative and positive affective responsivity to daily stressors compared to young men. Young adults (n = 215) completed a daily web-based interview for eight consecutive days to assess multiple dynamic aspects of daily stress processes. Women experienced a greater frequency of daily stressor days. Further, the magnitude of the difference in both negative and positive affect between stressor-free and stressor days were greater in young women compared to young men. Greater exposure and amplified …