Hostility Is Related to Blunted -Adrenergic Receptor Responsiveness Among Middle-Aged Women

Objective: Based on previous findings in men, the hypothesis that hostility would be associated with blunted responsiveness of cardiovascular -adrenergic receptors was tested in a study sample of middle-aged women. The roles of the sympathetic nervous system and of social support in this putative relationship were also evaluated. Methods: Subjects were 80 healthy women (n 23 African American; n 57 white), aged 47 to 55 years. Hostility was assessed using the Cook-Medley Hostility Scale and social support was assessed with the Brief Social Support Questionnaire. Intravenous isoproterenol challenge was used to evaluate cardiac and vascular -adrenergic receptor responsiveness. Twenty-four-hour urinary catecholamine excretion was used to index sympa-thetic nervous system activity. Results: Hostility was related to blunted cardiac (R 0.33, p .01) and vascular (R 0.23, p .05) -adrenergic receptor responsiveness in simple correlation analysis and in hierarchical regression analyses controlling for race, menopausal status, weight, and resting heart rate. Low social support was also related to blunted -adrenergic receptor respon-siveness (R 0.3, p .01). Twenty-four-hour norepinephrine excretion was related both to hostility (R 0.32, p .01) and to cardiac (R 0.25, p .05) and vascular (R 0.24, p .05) -adrenergic receptor responsiveness. Conclusions: These observations replicate and extend previous findings in men by demonstrating that higher levels of hostility and low levels of social support are associated with blunted -adrenergic receptor responsiveness in middle-aged women. They also suggest that heightened sympathetic nervous system activity associated with hostility may contribute to -adrenergic receptor blunting. Because blunted -adrenergic receptor sensitivity is a characteristic feature of a broad range of cardiovascular diseases, these findings may reflect an early preclinical manifestation of pathophysiology accompanying hostility and low social support. Key words: adrenergi