Major depressive disorder is associated with attenuated cardiovascular reactivity and impaired recovery among those free of cardiovascular disease.
- 1 January 2009
- journal article
- Published by American Psychological Association (APA) in Health Psychology
- Vol. 28 (2), 157-165
- https://doi.org/10.1037/a0013001
Abstract
To examine cardiovascular reactivity and recovery to laboratory stress among a naturalistic sample of individuals diagnosed with major depressive disorder (MDD) and healthy control participants. Prospective evidence suggests that MDD confers risk for cardiovascular disease equal to or greater than the risk associated with depressed mood. Enhanced cardiovascular reactivity has been proposed as a mechanism explaining increased risk, but data are inconsistent as to whether depressed individuals exhibit enhanced or attenuated reactivity. Further, few studies have examined appraisal and recovery differences. Participants diagnosed with MDD (N = 25) and healthy control participants (N = 25) engaged in a cardiovascular reactivity protocol including 2 tasks, each followed by a brief recovery period. Blood pressure, heart rate, pre-ejection period, cardiac output and total peripheral resistance were assessed. Appraisals of tasks were assessed prior to each task. Depressed participants exhibited significantly less systolic blood pressure, heart rate, and cardiac output reactivity during speech, less heart rate reactivity during mirror tracing, and less heart rate recovery after speech and mirror tracing than controls. Depressed participants appraised the tasks as more demanding, threatening, and stressful and reported being less able to cope than controls. Appraisals were related to heart rate reactivity, but appraisals did not mediate the relationship between depression group and reactivity. Impaired recovery rather than exaggerated cardiovascular reactivity may partially explain the increased prospective cardiovascular disease risk in depressed individuals.Keywords
Funding Information
- University of South Florida
- National Institutes of Health (MH077669)
This publication has 51 references indexed in Scilit:
- The Role of Rumination in Recovery from Reactivity: Cardiovascular Consequences of Emotional StatesPsychosomatic Medicine, 2002
- Depression as a predictor for coronary heart disease: a review and meta-analysisAmerican Journal of Preventive Medicine, 2002
- Behavioral activation and inhibition systems and the severity and course of depression.Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 2002
- Vagal Rebound and Recovery From Psychological StressPsychosomatic Medicine, 2001
- Cardiovascular (CV) responsivity and recovery to acute stress and future CV functioning in youth with family histories of CV disease: a 4-year longitudinal studyInternational Journal of Psychophysiology, 2001
- The joint impact of mood state and task difficulty on cardiovascular and electrodermal reactivity in active copingPsychophysiology, 2001
- Chronic stress influences cardiovascular and neuroendocrine responses during acute stress and recovery, especially in men.Health Psychology, 2001
- Negative Affect as a Prospective Risk Factor for HypertensionPsychosomatic Medicine, 2000
- The role of rumination in depressive disorders and mixed anxiety/depressive symptoms.Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 2000
- Why ruminators are poor problem solvers: Clues from the phenomenology of dysphoric rumination.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1999