Stress is a normal part of life. It can come from dramatic causes like losing a job or the death of a loved one. Stress can also develop from more common reasons, like everyday obligations and pressures that make you feel like you are not in control.
Ongoing stress from any cause not only takes an emotional and psychological toll but can also produce physical symptoms. These may include headaches, an upset stomach, tense and aching muscles, insomnia or low energy.
Heart disease is another potential stress-related problem.
Researchers at UC Davis Health are seeking to better understand the connections between stress and heart health in a clinical trial called PRECISE-ME. The study will evaluate how people's environments, social relations, life experiences, and daily stresses impact health — especially heart health.
"Chronic stress has been shown to be associated with increased cardiovascular events," said Martin Cadeiras, associate clinical professor of cardiology and primary investigator of the study. "In order to better develop treatments to prevent heart disease, we need to understand how our environments affect our heart health because people from different communities face a variety of different stressors."
"In order to better develop treatments to prevent heart disease, we need to understand how our environments affect our heart health because people from different communities face a variety of different stressors."-Martin Cadeiras
Clinical trial design
The study will include approximately 1,000 adults aged 18 years and older without a history of advanced heart failure or a psychiatric disorder.
Participants will be asked to complete a comprehensive online survey on stressors and health factors. The survey will ask about their general wellbeing, heart health, psychosocial and social history. Surveys will be taken at the start of the study, at six months and then once a year.
A subset of 400 participants will also be selected for an additional 30-day monitoring using non-invasive wearable devices to track heart rate, sleep patterns, activity levels and stress responses. Additionally, biological samples will be collected for multi-omics analysis to explore molecular mechanisms linking stress and cardiovascular health.
UC Davis PRECISE Center
The PRECISE-ME trial is part of the new UC Davis PRECISE Center (Psychosocial stRessors and Exposomics on CV health In underServed multiEthnic populations in Northern, California). The initiative is funded by the American Heart Association.
The UC Davis PRECISE Center is comprised of a multidisciplinary investigative team from UC Davis in partnership with California State University, Sacramento.
Additional projects at the PRECISE Center include:
- Innovative animal models to study how the constellation of environmental and social stressors such as noise, overcrowding, and sleep disruption impact cardiovascular function.
- Advanced omics analyses to generate a "functional connectome" across basic science and clinical projects. These will uncover key patterns in signaling pathways between stress and heart health, providing the overarching integration and insights that are greater than the individual project.
"We are hoping to determine the overall effects of chronic psychosocial stress clusters at the population level, within individual patients, and in close collaboration with an animal model of chronic psychosocial stress," added Cadeiras.
Participation in the study
PRECISE-ME researchers are seeking participants who meet the following criteria:
- Men and women who at least 18 years of age
- Residents of California
- Have not been diagnosed with advanced heart failure
- Have not been diagnosed with psychiatric disorder (schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, personality disorder)
