# Understanding the link between stressful life events and cardiovascular disease risk: A health neuroscience approach

> **NIH NIH F32** · UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH · 2024 · $77,607

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Stressful life events can increase risk for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVD), a leading cause of
mortality in the US and globally. However, knowledge of who is at highest risk of developing CVD following stress
exposure remains limited. Evidence from behavioral and neuroscientific studies suggest that affective patterns,
a construct encompassing features of emotions and moods, may partly explain individual differences in stress-
related CVD risk. Negative affective patterns, in particular, are associated with CVD-related morbidity and
mortality and subclinical biomarkers of CVD risk, including atherosclerotic progression, the metabolic syndrome,
and systemic inflammation. However, the ability to regulate negative affect by cognitive reappraisal, which
involves changing one’s construal of an emotional stimulus, may be cardio-protective in the context of stressor
exposure. Brain systems for affective processing and regulation may play a role in these protective effects.
Hence, amygdala and anterior cingulate cortex activity during affect processing or cognitive reappraisal covary
with atherosclerotic progression and systemic inflammation in adults. A major knowledge gap concerns the extent
to which brain and behavioral measures of affective processing and regulation modify stress-related changes in
subclinical precursors to clinical CVD. Research question and design: The present study thus tests whether
the relationship between stressful life events and subclinical biomarkers of CVD risk depends on individual
differences in brain and behavioral measures of negative affect and cognitive reappraisal. Using deidentified
data on 656 healthy adults (mean age: 42.15 yrs) from the Sponsor’s NHLBI Program Project, the applicant will
examine the cross-sectional and longitudinal relationship between (1) stressful life events, negative affect (a.
self-report, b. neural representation of negative affect), and subclinical biomarkers of CVD risk (i.e., carotid intima
media thickness, systemic inflammation, metabolic syndrome index) and (2) stressful life events, cognitive
reappraisal (a. self-report, b. neural representation of cognitive reappraisal), and subclinical biomarkers of CVD
risk. Health-Related Impact: Identifying brain-based and biobehavioral affective processing and regulation
patterns that index vulnerability to preclinical CVD progression may help inform early prevention and prediction
efforts directed toward stress-related CVD risk. Training plan: This fellowship will prepare the applicant for a
research career aimed at using neuroscience and psychoneuroimmunology to understand biopsychosocial
mechanisms linking stress to CVD and related comorbid diseases. In addition, the applicant will 1) complete
didactics in CVD pathophysiology, computational modeling of functional neuroimaging data, and statistics, 2)
gain experience conducting immunoassays, calculating atherosclerotic progression, and building predictive...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10995964
- **Project number:** 1F32HL176202-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH
- **Principal Investigator:** E. Lydia Wu-Chung
- **Activity code:** F32 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $77,607
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-09-01 → 2027-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10995964

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10995964, Understanding the link between stressful life events and cardiovascular disease risk: A health neuroscience approach (1F32HL176202-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10995964. Licensed CC0.

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