Older age was associated with lower heart rate reactivity but higher systolic blood pressure reactivity during emotionally evocative tasks compared with younger age.
Meta-Analysis
Does older age affect cardiovascular reactivity to emotionally evocative laboratory tasks compared to younger age?
Older adults exhibit lower heart rate but higher systolic blood pressure reactivity to emotionally evocative tasks compared to younger adults.
In this meta-analytic review of 31 laboratory studies, we examined if relatively older adults showed lower or higher cardiovascular reactivity compared with relatively younger adults. Results revealed that age was associated with lower heart rate reactivity but higher systolic blood pressure (SBP) reactivity during emotionally evocative tasks. Consistent with the predictions of dynamic integration theory, the result for SBP was moderated by the degree of task activation. These data are discussed in light of existing self-regulatory models and important future research directions.
Uchino et al. (Wed,) conducted a meta-analysis in Age-related differences in cardiovascular reactivity. Older age vs. Younger age was evaluated on Cardiovascular reactivity (heart rate and systolic blood pressure) during emotionally evocative tasks. Older age was associated with lower heart rate reactivity but higher systolic blood pressure reactivity during emotionally evocative tasks compared with younger age.