• Annie T Ginty, Danielle A Young, Alexandra T Tyra, Page E Hurley, Ryan C Brindle, and Sarah E Williams.
• From the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience (Ginty, Young, Tyra, Hurley), Baylor University, Waco, Texas; Department of Cognitive and Behavioral Science and Neuroscience Program (Brindle), Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia; and School of Sport, Exercise, and Rehabilitation Sciences (Williams), University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom.
• Psychosom Med. 2021 May 1; 83 (4): 351-357.

ObjectiveIncreased autonomic arousal is a proposed risk factor for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Few studies have prospectively examined the association between physiological responses to acute psychological stress before a traumatic event and later PTSD symptoms. The present prospective study examined whether cardiovascular responses to an acute psychological stress task before the COVID-19 global pandemic predicted PTSD symptoms related to the ongoing pandemic.MethodsParticipants (n = 120) were a subsample of an ongoing research study. Phase 1 consisted of a 10-minute baseline and 4-minute acute psychological stress task with blood pressure and heart rate recorded throughout. Phase 2 was initiated 2 weeks after the COVID-19 pandemic declaration. Participants completed the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) with respect to the ongoing pandemic. Hierarchical linear regression analyses were used to examine whether cardiovascular stress reactivity predicted COVID-19 PTSD symptoms.ResultsHeart rate reactivity significantly predicted IES intrusion (β = -0.208, t = -2.28, p = .025, ΔR2 = 0.041, confidence interval = -0.021 to -0.001) and IES hyperarousal (β = -0.224, t = -2.54, p = .012, ΔR2 = 0.047, confidence interval = -0.22 to - 0.003), but not IES avoidance (p = .077). These results remained statistically significant after adjustment for sex, socioeconomic status, baseline cardiovascular activity, neuroticism, race, ethnicity, body mass index, and adverse childhood experiences. There were no statistically significant associations between blood pressure and any of the Impact of Event Scale-Revised subscales (p values > .12).ConclusionsDiminished heart rate responses (i.e., lower physiological arousal) to acute psychological stress before the COVID-19 pandemic significantly predicted reported PTSD symptoms during the crisis.Copyright © 2020 by the American Psychosomatic Society.

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