Insulin resistance syndrome and autonomically mediated physiological responses to experimentally induced mental stress in adolescent boys

We investigated the relationship between hemodynamic and other autonomically mediated responses to experimentally induced mental stress and the parameters of the insulin resistance syndrome (IRS) in 48 healthy adolescent boys. Mental stress was induced with mental arithmetic and the Stroop Color-Word Test, Heart rate (HR), finger blood volume (FBV), and skin conductance level (SCL) were recorded continuously during task performance. IRS parameters measured were serum insulin, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, serum triglyceride (TG), systolic blood pressure (SBP), subscapular skinfold (SSF), and subscapular to triceps skinfold ratio (STR). The results indicated that a high level and an increasing linear trend of HR and FBV during task performance were related, independently of each other and of body mass index (BMI), to a high insulin concentration. An increasing linear trend of HR during mental stress was also related to high SSFs independently of BMI. In addition, a high SCL during task performance was associated with high TG levels, SSFs, and STRs. It is discussed whether stress-induced sympathetic overactivity might contribute to the development of the IRS. (C) 1996 by W.B. Saunders Company.