Key result
Essential hypertensive males exhibited greater salivary alpha-amylase reactivity to acute psychosocial stress (p=0.049) and norepinephrine infusion (p=0.033) compared to normotensive controls.
Why the study?
It was unknown whether the general physiological hyperreactivity to acute psychosocial stress in essential hypertension extends to salivary alpha-amylase.
Does acute psychosocial stress or norepinephrine infusion increase salivary alpha-amylase reactivity more in essential hypertensive males compared to normotensive controls?
Case-Control (n=42)
Does acute psychosocial stress or norepinephrine infusion increase salivary alpha-amylase reactivity more in essential hypertensive males compared to normotensive controls?
Effect estimate: ηp2 = 0.08
p-value: p=0.049
Essential hypertensive males demonstrate hyperreactivity of salivary alpha-amylase to acute psychosocial stress and norepinephrine, suggesting its potential utility as a noninvasive marker of early cardiovascular risk.
sAA hyperreactivity may mark early CV risk in hypertensive males; leaves open prospective validation before clinical adoption.
It is unknown whether the observed general physiological hyperreactivity to acute psychosocial stress in essential hypertension also extends to salivary alpha-amylase (sAA), a surrogate sympathetic nervous system marker. Here, we investigated sAA reactivity to acute psychosocial stress in essential hypertensive males (HT) as compared to normotensive controls (NT). To shed light on underlying mechanisms, we moreover tested for sAA reactivity following a standardized norepinephrine (NE) infusion. We hypothesized that both acute psychosocial stress and an NE infusion of similar duration would lead to greater sAA reactivity in HT than in NT. In the stress study, we examined sAA reactivity to 15 min of acute psychosocial stress induced by the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) in 19 HT and 23 NT up to 40 min after stress. In the infusion study, 20 HT and 22 NT received a standardized NE infusion (5 μg/mL/min) over 15 min mimicking NE release in reaction to acute psychosocial stress. HT exhibited greater sAA reactivity to the TSST as compared to NT (p = 0.049, ηp2 = 0.08, f = 0.29). In reaction to the standardized NE infusion, HT showed higher sAA reactivity as compared to NT (p = 0.033, ηp2 = 1.00, f = 0.33). Our findings suggest stress-induced sAA hyperreactivity in essential hypertension that seems to be at least in part mediated by a higher reactivity to a standardized amount of NE in HT. With respect to clinical implications, sAA stress reactivity may serve as a noninvasive marker indicative of early cardiovascular risk.
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Walther et al. (2022) conducted a case-control in Essential hypertension (n=42). Essential hypertension vs. Normotensive controls was evaluated on Salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) reactivity to acute psychosocial stress and norepinephrine infusion (ηp2 = 0.08, p=0.049). Essential hypertensive males exhibited greater salivary alpha-amylase reactivity to acute psychosocial stress (p=0.049) and norepinephrine infusion (p=0.033) compared to normotensive controls.
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