Impact of psychological distress on cardiovagal reactivation after a speech task

Abstract

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is more prevalent in individuals with Type-D personality(distressed) who tend to avoid confrontation in social situations (social inhibition) and have a greater tendency to experience negative emotions (negative affectivity). Although psychological distress is associated with increased risk of adverse cardiovascular outcomes and impaired heart rate (HR) modulation, studies examining cardiac autonomic modulation in distressed individuals through heart rate variability (HRV) and baroreflex functioning during, and more importantly, after stress are scarce. Accordingly, we investigated blood pressure (BP), baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) and HRV responses before, during and after an interpersonal speech task (ST) in individuals with high distress scores (HD) and low distress scores (LD).