Daily environmental differences in blood pressure and heart rate variability in healthy premenopausal women

Bovbjerg

Hill

2016

American J Hum Biol

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Objectives The purpose of this study was to compare the daily inter- and intra-situational ambulatory blood pressure (BP) variation by ethnicity in women. Methods The African-American (N=82; Age=39.7+8.9), Hispanic-American (N=25; age=37.5+9.4), Asian-American (N=22; Age=35.2+8.6), and European-American (N=122; Age=37.2+ 9.4) women in this study all worked in similar positions at two major medical centers in NYC. Each wore an ambulatory monitor during the course of one mid-week workday. Proportional BP changes from work or home to sleep, intra-situational BP variation (standard deviation (SD)) and mean situational BP levels were compared among the groups using ANOVA models. Results African-American and Asian-American women had significantly smaller proportional work-sleep systolic changes than either European- (p<.05) or Hispanic-American (p<.05) women, but the Asian-American women’s changes tended to be smallest. The variability (SD) of diastolic BP at work was significantly greater among African- and Hispanic-American women compared to Asian- and European-American women (all p<.05). African-American women had greater sleep variability than European-American women (p<.05). Asian-American women had the highest level of sleep diastolic pressure (all comparisons p<.05). Conclusions African-American and Asian-American women have an attenuated proportional BP decline from waking environments to sleep compared to European-American and Hispanic-American women. Asian-American nocturnal BP may be elevated relative to all other groups.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 74%

Ethnic differences in inter‐ and intra‐situational blood pressure variation: Comparisons among African‐American, Hispanic‐American, Asian‐American, and European‐American women

Bovbjerg

Hill

2016

American J Hum Biol

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“…These questions were explored in a series of studies conducted on premenopausal women, aged eighteen to fifty, who were employed outside the home in the same types of occupations (secretaries and technicians) at the same workplaces (two hospitals in New York City) (e.g., James, Alfarano, and Van Berge‐Landry ; James and Bovbjerg ; James et al. ; James, Bovbjerg, and Hill , ; James and Marion ; James, Moucha, and Pickering ; James and Murnock ; James, Schlussel, and Pickering ; Kario et al. ; McNamee and James ; Niclou, James, and Bovbjerg ; T. Pickering et al.…”

Section: Lifestyle Life History and Arterial Blood Pressure Allostasismentioning

confidence: 99%

Allostasis and Adaptation: Biocultural Processes Integrating Lifestyle, Life History, and Blood Pressure Variation

American Anthropologist

2020

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Allostasis (literally “stability through change”) is a key concept for understanding how human behavior and physiological adaptation are related. The continuous variation in arterial blood pressure is an exemplar of allostasis. The purpose of this article is to describe theoretical and methodological developments that have led to an improved biocultural understanding of arterial blood pressure responses to everyday life in humans using allostasis as a paradigm. Arterial pressure variation is directly related to lifestyle, or more specifically, the things that people do, think, and experience in their daily lives. Allostatic patterns of arterial pressure variation also change with life‐history events. Patterns are altered as people age and take on differing social roles, and patterns vary between men and women. The cumulative effects of allostasis is the development of allostatic load, or a “wearing out” of the system. Studies have linked allostatic load to the development of cardiovascular diseases (CVD). However, the rate and trajectory of allostatic load through adult life is effectively dictated by developmental and evolutionary processes that impact allostasis and will vary among populations as a consequence of developmental, heritable, environmental, and cultural differences. Allostasis is the paradigm for biocultural studies of arterial blood pressure. [allostasis, adaptation, blood pressure, life history, biocultural]

“…Aside from the obvious allostatic concerns, there may also be technical issues relating to the measurements. For example, “sleep” pressures taken by a cuff occlusion method can also vary considerably due to the changing position of the cuff relative to the heart when a person rolls over or moves during sleep [1, 43].…”

Section: Current Evaluations Of Blood Pressure Variabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Adaptive Value and Clinical Significance of Allostatic Blood Pressure Variation

2019

CHYR

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In recent years, there has been interest in evaluating the morbidity and mortality risk of circadian, diurnal, or nocturnal blood pressure variation. Variation is a normative property of blood pressure, necessary for survival. Like many physiological functions, blood pressure undergoes allostasis, meaning that the body does not defend a particular blood pressure value, but rather blood pressure maintains bodily stability through continual change that is initiated by constantly fluctuating internal and external environmental stimuli. Because of its allostatic and adaptive properties, the blood pressure response to unusual situations like a visit to the clinic can lead to misdiagnosis of hypertension. However, blood pressure variation is mostly ignored when evaluating hypertension, which is an arbitrary dichotomy. Whether variation is indicative of pathology should be determined by assessing its appropriateness for the circumstance, which requires quantification of the sources and extent of normative blood pressure responses to everyday living. These responses will vary among populations due to evolutionary genetic differences. The inconsistency of reports regarding aspects of ambulatory blood pressure variation as cardiovascular risk factors likely results from the fact that the measures used do not reflect the actual nature of blood pressure allostasis.