Pittsburgh Mind-Body Center

4:00 pm - 5:00 pm, Social Room (3rd Floor) Mellon Institute, Carnegie Mellon University

"What Can Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring Tell Us About Psychosocial Factors and
Cardiovascular Disease Risk?"

Thomas W. Kamarck, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh

An extensive literature has shown that measures of ambulatory blood pressure are stronger and/or independent predictors of cardiovascular disease risk, even after adjustment for measures of blood pressure taken in the clinic.  Over the past several years, Kamarck et al. have used ecological momentary assessment methods in conjunction with ambulatory blood pressure monitoring toward the goals of a) exploring some of the determinants of ambulatory blood pressure, and b) examining the role of daily experiences as determinants of stress-related cardiovascular reactivity.  Using some of these results, Dr. Kamarck will describe the rationale for the Pittsburgh Healthy Heart Project, a prospective study examining cardiovascular reactivity and psychosocial stress as correlates of subclinical cardiovascular disease progression in healthy adults. Methodological issues will be discussed along with preliminary (cross sectional) findings from this investigation.