Abstract

 Introduction and Aim: Mental stress may impact dramatically on dynamic autonomic control on heart. Many studies have demonstrated association of high body mass index (BMI) with greater risk for cardiovascular disease with disturbance in autonomic neuronal activity. Analysis of Heart rate variability (HRV)during acute mental stress assesses the autonomic status of the individual. Hence, we aimed to study the effect of acute mental stress on time domain measures in obese adults.
 
 Materials and Methods:Sixty male volunteers of 30 each in study group (obese individuals) and control group (non-obese individuals) were recruited for the study. A basal recording of ECG in lead II was done on all the individuals. Then they underwent mental arithmetic stress task for 5 minutes during which again ECG was recorded. The change in time domain measures of HRV during rest and stress task was analyzed and compared between both the groups.
 
 Results: Analysis of time domain measures of HRV revealed a statistically significant increase (p ? 0.001) in mean heart rate in both obese and non-obese individuals, while rMSSD(root mean square differences of successive RR interval) and SDNN (standard deviation of all NN intervals) showed a statistically significant (p? 0.001) decrease in obese individuals and non-obese individuals did not show any statistically significant change during the mental stress task.
 
 Conclusion: In response to acute mental stress there was increased heart rate in both the groups. But the autonomic neuronal activity differed by way of sympathetic dominance in non-obese individuals and parasympathetic withdrawal in obese individuals.
Highlights
Introduction and AimMental stress may impact dramatically on dynamic autonomic control on heart
The autonomic neuronal activity differed by way of sympathetic dominance in non-obese individuals and parasympathetic withdrawal in obese individuals
Cardiovascular diseases have long been associated with risk factors such as obesity, diabetes, smoking, mental stress, excess blood cholesterol etc
Summary
Mental stress may impact dramatically on dynamic autonomic control on heart. Analysis of Heart rate variability (HRV)during acute mental stress assesses the autonomic status of the individual. Cardiovascular diseases have long been associated with risk factors such as obesity, diabetes, smoking, mental stress, excess blood cholesterol etc. Many studies have shown that autonomic dysregulation can lead to the development of metabolic syndrome [2,3,4,5]. Mental stress has shown to cause obesity related rise in blood pressure [6]. Many studies have shown that changes in neuroendocrine and autonomic reactivity to mental stress contributes to the development of cardiovascular diseases and hypertension [6, 7]. There can be mutual co- existence of mental stress and Obesity leading to autonomic dysregulation
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