Psychosomatic medicine
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Psychosomatic medicine · Sep 2003
Clinical Trial Controlled Clinical TrialPlacebo and Nocebo responses, cortisol, and circulating beta-endorphin.
The experiment tested whether the placebo and nocebo responses could be mediated via modulation of stress. ⋯ A placebo response, ie, a reduced pain level, was seen in the Placebo group at 15 minutes after the injection. The placebo response was not related to stress or to beta-endorphin. Expectation of a pain increase in the Nocebo group led to an increase in cortisol, but the expectation of pain increase and the resultant cortisol increase had no effect on pain.
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Psychosomatic medicine · Sep 2003
Blunted cortisol responses to psychosocial stress in asthmatic children: a general feature of atopic disease?
Atopy is defined by the individual predisposition to develop a group of inflammatory disorders in response to certain food or environmental substances that are otherwise innocuous for the host. In previous studies we could demonstrate a reduced responsiveness of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis to psychosocial stress in young and adult patients with atopic dermatitis (AD), a chronic atopic skin disorder. With respect to the important immunoregulatory role of the HPA axis, especially under stress, this observation could be of clinical relevance and may at least partly explain stress-induced exacerbation of AD. The present study was designed to investigate whether attenuated responsiveness of the HPA axis to stress represents a characteristic feature of AD or whether it can also be found in other chronic manifestations of atopy. ⋯ These findings suggest that a blunted adrenocortical response to stress may represent a common feature of chronic allergic inflammatory processes that may be relevant in different forms of chronic manifestation of atopy.
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Psychosomatic medicine · Sep 2003
Effects of perceived racism and anger inhibition on ambulatory blood pressure in African Americans.
Hypertension is more prevalent in African Americans compared with Americans of European descent. Preliminary evidence indicates that perceived racism may play a role in elevated blood pressure in African Americans. The present study examined whether perceived racism was associated with higher ambulatory blood pressure measured during daily life. A potential contributing role for anger inhibition was also evaluated. ⋯ Perceived racism and anger inhibition are independently related to higher ABP. Both may contribute to the incidence of hypertension and hypertensive-related diseases observed in African Americans.