TEMPORAL STABILITY OF LIPID RESPONSES TO ACUTE PSYCHOLOGICAL STRESS IN MIDDLE-AGED MEN

The purpose of this study was to establish the temporal stability of l ipid responses to acute psychological stress. Eighteen men were tested twice an average of 16.2 months apart in identical laboratory reactiv ity protocols. Total cholesterol, triglycerides, high- and low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, plasma volume, heart rate, and blood pressur e were assessed during rest, serial subtraction, and speech. After cor rection for changes in plasma volume, significant elevations were reco rded for all variables during the speech task, but fewer variables sho wed changes during the serial subtraction task. Strong intersession as sociations were found when considering levels of the variables during baseline and stress (rs greater than or equal to .58). Correlations fo r the change scores ranged from .36 to .52 for the atherogenic lipids and from .39 to .87 for the cardiovascular variables. Little evidence was found for stability of plasma volume changes. There is moderate to high temporal stability of the atherogenic lipids when considering re st and stress levels and small to moderate temporal stability when con sidering change scores.