Lipids, Catecholamines, and Cardiovascular Responses to Stress in Patients Recovering from Myocardial Infarction

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Abstract
This study examined the relationship of serum lipids to cardiovascular and neuroendocrine responses to a behavioral stressor, the mental arithmetic test (MAT). Forty-two men with a recent (<1 year) myocardial infarction (MI) underwent assessment of blood lipids and cardiovascular and catecholamine responses to the MAT. Subjects with a high ratio of total cholesterol (TC) to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLC) displayed greater levels of epinephrine and norepinephrine to the MAT compared with patients with a low TC/HDLC ratio. Classification of subjects based on their level of neuroendocrine responses to the MAT yielded similar results. These data suggest that catecholamine responses to stress are associated with high levels of serum cholesterol. The results are discussed in terms of how catecholamine reactivity and elevated blood lipids may increase the risk for developing coronary heart disease (CHD).

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