Trait anxiety mimics age-related cardiovascular autonomic modulation in young adults

Anxiety produces maladaptive cardiovascular changes and accelerates biological aging. We evaluated cardiovascular reactivity inyoung and middle-aged individuals with varying anxiety scores to test the hypothesis that anxiety mimics cardiovascular aging byinfluencing cardiovascular autonomic modulation. The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory was used to classify healthy young individuals(20–29 years) into high (YHA, n=22;10 men) and low (YLA, n=21;10 men) anxiety, and to identify middle-aged individuals (50–60years) with low anxiety (MLA, n=22;11 men). Heart rate, blood pressure (BP) and their variability (HRV and BPV, respectively) andbaroreflex function were analyzed from beat-to-beat finger BP and electrocardiogram recordings collected during 5-min baseline,6-min speech task (ST) and 3-min post ST recovery. Analyses of covariance showed significant differences (Po0.05) at baselinefor HRV, BPV and barorelfex, and low-frequency power of systolic BP variability (LFSBP) was lower, whereas baroreflex and highfrequency (HF) normalized units were higher in the YLA compared with YHA and MLA groups. Compared with YLA, YHA and MLAdisplayed attenuated vagal withdraw response (HF) to ST. BP and LFSBP responses to ST in YHA and MLA were higher comparedwith the YLA group. These findings suggest that anxiety could be linked to cardiovascular aging as it attenuates cardiac reactivityand exaggerates vascular responses to stress.Journal of Human Hypertension advance online publication, 28 August 2014; doi:10.1038/jhh.2014.72INTRODUCTIONAnxiety carries the highest lifetime prevalence among allpsychiatric disorders, and tends to be comorbid with majordepressive disorder.