Association between Life Stressors and Arterial Stiffness: The Finnish Retirement and Aging Study

Saana Karelius; Jussi Vahtera; Olli J. Heinonen; Teemu J. Niiranen; Sari Stenholm

doi:10.2991/artres.k.210608.001

<Previous Article In Issue

Volume 27, Issue 3, September 2021, Pages 129 - 134

Association between Life Stressors and Arterial Stiffness: The Finnish Retirement and Aging Study

Authors

Saana Karelius¹^{, 2}^{, *}, Jussi Vahtera³^{, 4}, Olli J. Heinonen⁵, Teemu J. Niiranen¹^{, 2}^{, 6}^{, †}, Sari Stenholm²^{, 3}^{, †}

¹Department of Internal Medicine, University of Turku, Turku 20014, Finland

²Division of Medicine, Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland

³Department of Public Health, University of Turku and Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland

⁴Centre for Population Health Research, University of Turku and Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland

⁵Paavo Nurmi Centre & Unit for Health and Physical Activity, University of Turku, Turku, Finland

⁶Department of Public Health Solutions, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland

^†

The authors contributed equally to this work.

^*Corresponding author. Email: sekkar@utu.fi

Corresponding Author

Saana Karelius

Received 12 November 2020, Accepted 22 May 2021, Available Online 13 June 2021.

DOI

10.2991/artres.k.210608.001 How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Ageing; blood pressure; cardiovascular disease; occupational health; stress; pulse wave velocity

Abstract

Objective: Besides traditional risk factors, other factors such as life stressors are linked with incident cardiovascular disease. However, the underlying mechanisms for this association remain mostly unknown. We studied the relation of life stressors (job strain, sleep loss due to worry, illness or death in family, financial difficulties and caregiving) and their accumulation with arterial stiffness, an independent predictor of cardiovascular disease.

Methods: 258 participants (mean age 62.4 years, 82% women) from the Finnish Retirement and Aging Study underwent measurements for carotid-femoral Pulse Wave Velocity (PWV), a standard criterion for assessing arterial stiffness and responded to a survey inquiring life stressors. Using analysis of covariance, we estimated group means adjusted for age, gender, occupation, lifestyle factors and hypertension.

Results: Participants with recent illness or death in family (8.04 m/s; 95% CI, 7.40–8.73 vs. 7.52 m/s; 95% CI, 7.03–8.05) and financial difficulties (8.65 m/s; 95% CI, 7.62–9.81 vs. 7.71 m/s; 95% CI, 7.21–8.24) had increased PWV compared to those who did not have exposed to these stressors independent of lifestyle factors, diabetes and systolic blood pressure. In addition, increasing number of life stressors demonstrated an association towards increased PWV (≥2 stressors: 8.04 m/s; 95% CI, 7.42–8.72 vs. 0 stressors 7.74 m/s; 95% CI, 7.23–8.28; p for trend 0.27) but the association attenuated after adjusting for lifestyle factors, diabetes and systolic blood pressure.

Conclusion: Life stress was found to associate with higher arterial stiffness. Increased arterial stiffness could explain some of the increased cardiovascular disease risk related to life stressors.

HIGHLIGHTS

•
Arterial stiffness was assesed as carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity.
•
Illness or death in the family were associated with an increased arterial stiffness.
•
Financial difficulties were associated with an increased arterial stiffness.
•
A trend toward increasing number of stressors and higher arterial stiffness exists.

Copyright

Open Access

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

Download article (PDF)
View full text (HTML)

<Previous Article In Issue

Journal: Artery Research
Volume-Issue: 27 - 3
Pages: 129 - 134
Publication Date: 2021/06/13
ISSN (Online): 1876-4401
ISSN (Print): 1872-9312
DOI: 10.2991/artres.k.210608.001 How to use a DOI?
Open Access: This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

Cite this article

ris enw bib

TY  - JOUR
AU  - Saana Karelius
AU  - Jussi Vahtera
AU  - Olli J. Heinonen
AU  - Teemu J. Niiranen
AU  - Sari Stenholm
PY  - 2021
DA  - 2021/06/13
TI  - Association between Life Stressors and Arterial Stiffness: The Finnish Retirement and Aging Study
JO  - Artery Research
SP  - 129
EP  - 134
VL  - 27
IS  - 3
SN  - 1876-4401
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/artres.k.210608.001
DO  - 10.2991/artres.k.210608.001
ID  - Karelius2021
ER  -

download .riscopy to clipboard