Patterns of adaptation to stress cardiovascular responses in smokers
during ad libitum smoking and withdrawal
Abstract
There is considerable evidence documenting associations between tobacco
smoking, including initiation, maintenance, and relapse of addiction,
with diminished cardiovascular responses to acute psychological stress.
However, less is known about how smokers respond to repeated stress
across time. The current study examined patterns of cardiovascular
reactivity and adaptation to recurrent stress among abstinent smokers,
smokers who continued to smoke at their normal rate, and non-smokers.
Smokers were randomly assigned to one of two conditions; ad libitum (n =
42), or 24h abstinence (n = 61); and non-smokers (n = 43) provided
comparative referencing. Across the two laboratory sessions,
participants (n = 149) were asked to complete a modified version of the
trier social stress test (TSST), while monitoring systolic and diastolic
blood pressure, and heart rate activity. Results showed that while
non-smokers had elevated cardiovascular reactivity to begin with, they
showed a greater capacity to habituate to recurrent stress across
sessions. The data also suggest that smokers displayed attenuated
cardiovascular reactivity to acute psychological stress and showed
little habituation to repeated stress. In adjusted models, smokers
exhibited less systolic blood pressure tolerance to stress. This poorer
response profile in smokers may be a potential mechanism that leads to
further cardiotoxic effects on health. Key words: Smoking,
cardiovascular reactivity, habituation, stress