Cited by 503Stress Responses and CortisolHeart Rate Variability and Autonomic ControlHealth, psychology, and well-being

Psychological stress reactivity and future health and disease outcomes: A systematic review of prospective evidence

Open access
Turner, Anne I., Smyth, Nina, Hall, Sarah J., Torres, Susan J., Hussein, Mais, Jayasinghe, Sisitha U., Ball, Kylie, Clow, Angela J.·2020·Psychoneuroendocrinology

Abstract

Background Acute psychological stress activates the sympatho-adrenal medullary (SAM) system and hypothalamo-pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis. The relevance of this stress reactivity to long-term health and disease outcomes is of great importance. We examined prospective studies in apparently healthy adults to test the hypothesis that the magnitude of the response to acute psychological stress in healthy adults is related to future health and disease outcomes.Methods We searched Medline Complete, PsycINFO, CINAHL Complete and Embase up to 15 Aug 2019. Included studies were peer-reviewed, English-language, prospective studies in apparently healthy adults. The exposure was acute psychological stress reactivity (SAM system or HPA axis) at baseline. The outcome was any health or disease outcome at follow-up after ≥1 year.Results We identified 1719 papers through database searching and 1 additional paper through other sources. Forty-seven papers met our criteria including 32,866 participants (range 30-4100) with 1-23 years of follow-up. Overall, one third (32 %; 83/263) of all reported findings were significant and two thirds (68 %; 180/263) were null. With regard to the significant findings, both exaggerated (i.e. high) and blunted (i.e. low) stress reactivity of both the SAM system and the HPA axis at baseline were related to health and disease outcomes at follow-up. Exaggerated stress reactivity at baseline predicted an increase in risk factors for cardiovascular disease and decreased telomere length at follow-up. In contrast, blunted stress reactivity predicted future increased adiposity and obesity, more depression, anxiety and PTSD symptoms, greater illness frequency, musculoskeletal pain and regulatory T-Cell percentage, poorer cognitive ability, poorer self-reported health and physical disability and lower bone mass.Conclusion Exaggerated and blunted SAM system and HPA axis stress reactivity predicted distinct physical and mental health and disease outcomes over time. Results from prospective studies consistently indicate stress reactivity as a predictor for future health and disease outcomes. Dysregulation of stress reactivity may represent a mechanism by which psychological stress contributes to the development of future health and disease outcomes.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2020.104599

Cites

85 of 85 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • There could be a link between mental distress and cardiovascular conditions; hypertension and heart palpitations are both influenced by high stress levels.

    “There could be a link between mental distress and cardiovascular conditions; in fact, hypertension and heart palpitations are both influenced by high stress levels [76,77].”

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Turner, A. I., Smyth, N., Hall, S. J., Torres, S. J., Hussein, M., Jayasinghe, S. U., Ball, K., & Clow, A. J.
Affiliations
  • Deakin University (AU)
  • University of Westminster (GB)
  • University of Tasmania (AU)
Corresponding author
Turner, Anne I.
Venue
Psychoneuroendocrinology
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2020-04
Volume
114
Pages
104599
ISSN
0306-4530 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W3003219100
Cited by
503
References
85
Citations by year
2026: 50 · 2025: 102 · 2024: 95 · 2023: 69 · 2022: 104 · 2021: 56 · 2020: 26
FWCI
6.23
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Psychoneuroendocrinology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • WestminsterResearch (University of Westminster) (acceptedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • UTAS Research Repository (submittedVersion)
  • Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
Deakin University
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Heart Rate Variability and Autonomic Control
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Health, psychology, and well-being
Keywords
acute psychological stress, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, blunted stress response, cardiovascular risk factors, telomere length, obesity, depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, musculoskeletal pain, cognitive ability, bone mass, physical disability, self-reported health, disease outcome
MeSH terms
Noncommunicable Diseases, Sympathoadrenal System, Health Status, Humans, Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System, Prospective Studies, Stress, Psychological

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review