Key result
Environmental stress acutely raises blood pressure and heart rate, but links to chronic hypertension remain unproven.
Why the study?
The relationship between repeated and/or prolonged exposure to stress and the pathogenesis of chronic hypertension remains difficult to establish despite extensive experimental literature.
This review highlights the experimental evidence linking environmental stress to acute and chronic elevations in blood pressure.
Acute stress-related BP/HR rises merit clinical attention; leaves open chronic hypertension pathogenesis and requires prospective trials.
There is a considerable experimental literature concerning the psychophysiology of high blood pressure, but many difficulties arise in extrapolating data derived from laboratory studies in animals to the human condition. Nevertheless, a familiarity with basic laboratory results should be a prerequisite for all clinically orientated mental health professionals interested in the relationship between psychological functioning and hypertension. Profound cardiovascular alterations can result from exposure to environmental situations which are perceived as stressful. In particular, the relationships between stress and acute elevations in blood pressure and heart rate have been well documented. It is, however, a much more difficult problem to establish the relationship between repeated and/or prolonged exposure to stress and the pathogenesis of chronic hypertension. It is the purpose of this article to illustrate this relationship with a series of fundamental experimental observations.
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Friedman et al. (1985) conducted a review in Hypertension. Stress was evaluated. Exposure to environmental stress is associated with acute elevations in blood pressure and heart rate, though linking prolonged stress to chronic hypertension pathogenesis remains difficult.
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