Key result
Mild mental stress increased mean heart rate and epinephrine levels by similar percentages in men in their 50s and 70s, though recovery to baseline was slower in the older age group.
Why the study?
How do heart rate, urinary catecholamines, and anxiety responses to mental stress differ between men in their fifties and seventies?
Observational (n=48)
How do heart rate, urinary catecholamines, and anxiety responses to mental stress differ between men in their fifties and seventies?
Older men exhibit a delayed recovery of heart rate and epinephrine levels following mild mental stress compared to younger men.
Delayed recovery after mental stress in older men supports further autonomic aging research; should not yet change practice.
Alterations with ageing in the responses of heart rate (HR), urinary excretion of free epinephrine (E) and norepinephrine (NE) and anxiety were investigated during mild mental stress. Forty-eight normal male volunteers were studied: in control conditions; when subjected to psychometric tests; and during recovery. Men in their seventies had lower baseline levels of HR, E and NE than men in their fifties. Several anxiety indices were positively correlated with E. HR and NE were positively correlated. During stress, mean HR and E levels increased in the two age groups by the same percentages. Mean HR and E levels returned to pre-stress values more slowly in the older age group.
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Faucheux et al. (1983) reported an observational. Mild mental stress (psychometric tests) vs. Control conditions (baseline) was evaluated on Responses of heart rate, urinary excretion of free epinephrine and norepinephrine, and anxiety. Mild mental stress increased mean heart rate and epinephrine levels by similar percentages in men in their 50s and 70s, though recovery to baseline was slower in the older age group.
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