Table 3.
Effect of Mental Stress on Carotid Artery Vascular Response
| Variable | Normal (N = 20) | Hypertensive (N = 28) | |||||
| Baseline | Peak | P-value | Baseline | Peak | P-value | P-value Normo v. Hyper | |
| Systolic BP | 118.2 ± 12.5 | 131.3 ± 22.1 | 0.0035 | 140.0 ± 22.2 | 155.3 ± 29.2 | <.0001 | 0.5849 |
| Diastolic BP | 72.6 ± 9.7 | 78.5 ± 10.6 | 0.0029 | 82.2 ± 16.2 | 92.1 ± 18.2 | <.0001 | 0.1241 |
| Mean BP | 87.6 ± 9.1 | 96.2 ± 11.4 | 0.0003 | 100.8 ± 16.5 | 113.7 ± 19.9 | <.0001 | 0.2477 |
| Heart Rate | 69.1 ± 12.1 | 80.1 ± 16.6 | <.0001 | 66.4 ± 12.6 | 77.4 ± 14.4 | <.0001 | 0.9933 |
| CA Diam | 0.63 ± 0.06 | 0.66 ± 0.07 | 0.0001 | 0.69 ± 0.06 | 0.68 ± 0.07 | 0.0633 | <.0001 |
| PSV | 72.2 ± 15.6 | 75.8 ± 13.2 | 0.1196 | 74.2 ± 17.9 | 70.2 ± 17.4 | 0.162 | 0.0495 |
| EDV | 19.2 ± 6.0 | 21.2 ± 5.0 | 0.0341 | 22.1 ± 5.7 | 22.0 ± 8.2 | 0.5868 | 0.0841 |
| TAM | 18.5 ± 4.9 | 22.7 ± 6.2 | 0.0008 | 19.6 ± 5.1 | 20.6 ± 8.8 | 0.4529 | 0.0764 |
| RI | 0.73 ± 0.08 | 0.72 ± 0.08 | 0.113 | 0.81 ± 0.23 | 0.74 ± 0.18 | 0.1574 | 0.338 |
| PI | 1.73 ± 0.60 | 1.51 ± 0.41 | 0.0581 | 1.95 ± 0.96 | 1.61 ± 0.81 | 0.0471 | 0.8033 |
| Flow | 351.4 ± 113.6 | 453.6 ± 136.2 | <.0001 | 444.2 ± 142.9 | 458.1 ± 194.8 | 0.5851 | 0.0136 |
Values are mean ± SD. Numbers in brackets represent number of participating subjects in each group. Data represents the effects of the mental stress task that produced the maximum increase in blood flow in the three groups. PSV, peak systolic velocity; EDV, end-diastolic velocity; TAM, time average mean velocity; RI, resistive index; PI, pulsatility index; TAM, time averaged mean velocity. Flow = 3.14× 60× (radius)2× TAM. Units same as in Tables 1 and 2.