Key result
Trier Social Stress Test elicits sex-specific cortisol and LF/HF responses alongside delayed non-linear HRV recovery.
Why the study?
The persistence of acute psychosocial stress effects on subjective emotion, salivary cortisol, and heart rate variability features in both genders was unclear.
Does acute psychosocial stress induced by the Trier Social Stress Test cause persistent changes in heart rate variability and cortisol levels in healthy young volunteers?
Observational (n=33)
No
Does acute psychosocial stress induced by the Trier Social Stress Test cause persistent changes in heart rate variability and cortisol levels in healthy young volunteers?
Acute psychosocial stress induces persistent changes in autonomic tone (measured by non-linear HRV) and cortisol levels that outlast subjective emotional recovery.
Persistent HRV non-linear changes after subjective recovery warrant caution in autonomic monitoring; leaves open gender-specific stress persistence for prospective studies.
BACKGROUND: As stress occurs repetitively every day, the biological modifiers should also have enough time to restore the normal state of hemostasis; otherwise, chronic stress would be anticipated. The aim of the present study was to examine the persistence of stress based on subjective emotion, salivary cortisol, and linear and non-linear features of heart rate variability (HRV) in both genders. METHODS: Thirty-three healthy young volunteers (23 men and 10 women) participating in this study were exposed to the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). Moreover, the emotional visual analog scale (EVAS), salivary cortisol, and ECG recording in the rest state were taken before and after TSST as well as 20 min after recovery. RESULTS: According to the results of the two-way mixed model ANOVA, all volunteers showed a significant increase in EVAS after TSST which was restored to the baseline state after recovery. Notably, the women's base of cortisol was significantly higher than men and the standard range of kit. Cortisol elevation was only observed in the men, and the significant increase of LF/HF ratio was observed in the women, while both did not retain to the baseline after recovery. The SD1 of Poincaré plot and spectral entropy decreased after stress in both genders. Moreover, there was a significant negative correlation between baseline level of cortisol and its elevation due to stress and some features of HRV. CONCLUSION: The base of cortisol played a critical role in modifying the physiological response to stress. In addition, after recovery, no stressful emotion remained, while the non-linear features of HRV did not return to baseline.
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Mohammadi et al. (2019) conducted an observational in Healthy volunteers (n=33). Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) vs. Baseline (rest state) was evaluated on Persistence of stress based on subjective emotion (EVAS), salivary cortisol, and linear and non-linear features of heart rate variability (HRV). The Trier Social Stress Test significantly increased subjective stress in both genders, but cortisol elevation was only observed in men and LF/HF ratio increase only in women, with non-linear HRV features failing to return to baseline after recovery.
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