FIGURE 2. Biological Effects of Psychosocial Stress and Cardiovascular Sequelae in Women.

The neuroendocrine axis interacts in a bidirectional manner with the autonomic nervous system and inflammatory pathways to promote adverse cardiovascular sequelae from stress. Although stress-related risk pathways for cardiovascular disease are multifactorial, the dominant mechanisms for women are inflammation and microvascular dysfunction resulting from neuroendocrine dysregulation and sympathetic nervous system activation.