Cigarette smoking and oral contraceptive use influence women's lipid, lipoprotein, and cardiovascular responses during stress
Davis, M.C.; Matthews, K.A.
Health Psychology Official Journal of the Division of Health Psychology American Psychological Association 9(6): 717-736
1990
ISSN/ISBN: 0278-6133 PMID: 2286182 DOI: 10.1037/0278-6133.9.6.717Document Number: 374838
35 females smokers, of whom 20 had taken combined oral contraceptives for 6 months or more, participated in a study of the effect of smoking and social stress on cardiovascular response, catecholamines and lipoproteins. The stress consisted of giving a 4-minute videotaped extemporaneous speech, after smoking 1 cigarette or sham-smoking. Testing was done in the luteal phase or on Days 15-22 of a pill cycle, after an overnight fast without smoking. Neither smoking nor stress affected catecholamines. Blood pressures and heart rate increased significantly during speech preparation, delivery and review in all subjects; and during inhalation in smoking women. Oral contraceptive users had higher baseline levels of total cholesterol and triglycerides, and their cholesterol and triglycerides increased more than did nonusers during the speech, triglycerides significantly so. Pill users also had higher systolic and diastolic blood pressure increases during delivery of the speech than did nonusers. This study corroborates previous reports that smoking increases cardiovascular responses additively to stress, and is the first report higher increases in triglycerides and cholesterol during stress in pill users.