Type D personality and psychophysiological reactivity during stress-testing

Background. Among the psychological risk factors for cardiovascular diseases, type D personality is studied. This type has a tendency to develop psychological distress and is associated with an unfavorable prognosis in patients with cardiovascular pathology. For the purposes of primary (including early) and secondary prevention of cardiovascular pathology, study of stress reactivity in individuals with type D personality is required for various physiological parameters, because the studies conducted to date have mainly concerned the stress reactivity of hemodynamics.

The aim. To study the influence of type D personality on various psychophysiological indicators of the body during psychoemotional stress.

Materials and methods. The study included 115 individuals among students of the Kemerovo State Medical University and employees of the Research Institute of Complex Problems of Cardiovascular Diseases of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (41 men and 74 women, aged from 18 to 64 years, median age – 22 years). According to the results of the DS-14 questionnaire, the individuals were divided into two groups: with type D personality (n = 59) and without it (n = 56). A study of stress reactivity was conducted for various physiological parameters using the BOSLAB professional plus biofeedback complex.

Results. A high percentage of individuals with type D personality (59 individuals, 51.3 %) was found in the cohort of subjects. During stress tests, individuals with type D personality had less pronounced dynamics of respiratory cardiac arrhythmia and pulse wave propagation time than individuals without type D (p = 0.020 and p = 0.032, respectively). More significant dynamics in type D personality were noted for the frequency of the respiratory mode (p < 0.001), the duration of the respiratory cycle (p < 0.001) and the data of integrated electromyography from the frontal muscles (p = 0.030).

Conclusions. The possibility of using the above-mentioned psychophysiological parameters in biofeedback programs for individuals with type D personality requires further study.

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