Psychological Stress and the Diurnal Patterns of Sodium Excretion and Blood Pressure: Results From the SABRE Study.
Chloe Fang, Matthew Barrett, Maria Cepeda et al.
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In 30 seconds
The SABRE study examined whether urinary sodium responses to mental stress were associated with day–night sodium excretion patterns and systolic blood pressure (BP) dipping in apparently healthy adults. Participants completed laboratory stress tasks, 24-hour ambulatory BP monitoring, and separate awake and asleep urine collections. In adjusted analyses, a smaller stress-induced sodium excretion rate was associated with a lower awake-to-asleep sodium excretion ratio (n=180, B=0.2253 [95% CI, 0.0490-0.4016]); a lower ratio was, in turn, associated with less systolic BP dipping (n=175, B=1.0127 [95% CI, 0.0599-1.9656]).
Key findings
- A smaller stress-induced urinary sodium excretion rate was associated with a lower awake-to-asleep sodium excretion ratio (n=180, B=0.2253 [95% CI, 0.0490-0.4016]).
- A lower awake-to-asleep sodium excretion ratio was associated with lower systolic BP dipping (n=175, B=1.0127 [95% CI, 0.0599-1.9656]).
Why it matters
The findings link sodium handling during psychological stress with both the diurnal pattern of sodium excretion and BP dipping. They suggest a possible physiological connection relevant to understanding variation in nocturnal BP patterns, while the observational associations do not establish that stress-related sodium changes cause reduced dipping.
What to keep in mind
The study reports adjusted associations, not causal effects; the abstract does not describe a randomized intervention.