Association of Psychosocial Factors With Short-Term Resting Heart Rate Variability: The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study.

ABSTRACT: Background Psychosocial factors predict heart disease risk, but our understanding of underlying mechanisms is limited. We sought to evaluate the physiologic correlates of psychosocial factors by measuring their relationships with heart rate variability (HRV), a measure of autonomic health, in the ARIC (Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities) study. We hypothesize that increased psychosocial stress associates with lower HRV. Methods and Results We studied 9331 participants in ARIC with short-term HRV data at visits 2 and 4. The mean (SD) age was 54.4 (5.7) years, 55% were women, and 25% were Black. Psychosocial factors included: (1) vital exhaustion (VE), (2) anger proneness, a personality trait, and (3) perceived social support. Linear models adjusted for sociodemographic and cardiovascular r

SUBMITTER: Shah AS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8174247 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature