# Smartphone-based mindfulness intervention for reducing stressrelated CVD risk

> **NIH NIH R34** · UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH · 2024 · $198,750

## Abstract

SUMMARY:
Smartphone-based mindfulness intervention for reducing stress-related CVD risk
Chronic psychosocial stress has been shown to be associated with increased risk for cardiovascular disease
(CVD), and exaggerated stress-related cardiovascular reactivity (CVR) has also been linked with elevated CVD
risk. Most of the evidence in these literatures is based upon correlational data to date. Progress in characterizing
and ameliorating these effects requires the development of standardized intervention tools designed to alter
stress exposure and reactivity. Mobile health interventions may provide a useful approach to this problem. We
have identified two specific daily life measures of psychosocial stress and stress reactivity, measured by
ambulatory monitoring, that are associated with markers of subclinical atherosclerosis. We have also developed
a smartphone-based mindfulness training program that appears to produce significant reductions in related
measures of daily life stress and acute stress-related physiological responding. The current study is designed to
examine whether this mobile health intervention is feasible and effective in addressing the stress-related targets
we have identified, in a population selected for vulnerability to stress and to CVD. We will examine whether
additional practice prompts that are presented during daily life (in the spirit of “Just-in-Time Adaptive
Interventions” or JITAIs) increase the magnitude or duration of treatment effects, and we will also explore whether
we can develop a model to assist us in identifying the circumstances in which automated prompting may be
fruitfully employed as part of this treatment. The goal is to produce a scalable mobile health intervention that
can be shown to reduce progression of preclinical CVD as part of a subsequent Phase 2 clinical trial.
RELEVANCE:
Developing interventions for reducing the effects of psychosocial stress on cardiovascular disease is of critical
importance for public health.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10869882
- **Project number:** 5R34HL163245-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH
- **Principal Investigator:** THOMAS WILSON KAMARCK
- **Activity code:** R34 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $198,750
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-06-16 → 2026-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10869882

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10869882, Smartphone-based mindfulness intervention for reducing stressrelated CVD risk (5R34HL163245-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10869882. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*