{"doi":"10.1152/ajpregu.00111.2023","title":"Neurovascular and hemodynamic responses to mental stress and exercise in severe COVID-19 survivors","abstract":"Previous studies show that COVID-19 survivors have elevated muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA), endothelial dysfunction, and aortic stiffening. However, the neurovascular responses to mental stress and exercise are still unexplored. We hypothesized that COVID-19 survivors, compared with age- and body mass index (BMI)-matched control subjects, exhibit abnormal neurovascular responses to mental stress and physical exercise. Fifteen severe COVID-19 survivors (aged: 49 ± 2 yr, BMI: 30 ± 1 kg/m 2 ) and 15 well-matched control subjects (aged: 46 ± 3 yr, BMI: 29 ± 1 kg/m 2 ) were studied. MSNA (microneurography), forearm blood flow (FBF), and forearm vascular conductance (FVC, venous occlusion plethysmography), mean arterial pressure (MAP, Finometer), and heart rate (HR, ECG) were measured during a 3-min mental stress (Stroop Color-Word Test) and during a 3-min isometric handgrip exercise (30% of maximal voluntary contraction). During mental stress, MSNA (frequency and incidence) responses were higher in COVID-19 survivors than in controls ( P < 0.001), and FBF and FVC responses were attenuated ( P < 0.05). MAP was similar between the groups ( P > 0.05). In contrast, the MSNA (frequency and incidence) and FBF and FVC responses to handgrip exercise were similar between the groups ( P > 0.05). MAP was lower in COVID-19 survivors ( P < 0.05). COVID-19 survivors exhibit an exaggerated MSNA and blunted vasodilatory response to mental challenge compared with healthy adults. However, the neurovascular response to handgrip exercise is preserved in COVID-19 survivors. Overall, the abnormal neurovascular control in response to mental stress suggests that COVID-19 survivors may have an increased risk to cardiovascular events during mental challenge.","journal":"American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology","year":2023,"id":371400,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":6,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9597,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2023-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":260560,"name":"Renata Moll‐Bernardes","orcid":"0000-0001-8587-7319","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1131029,"name":"Laura Testa","orcid":"0000-0001-6080-7429","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1131030,"name":"Camila Motta Venchiarutti Moniz","orcid":"0000-0002-1182-4764","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1131031,"name":"Érika C. Rodrigues","orcid":"0000-0001-5464-2963","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":238284,"name":"José Maurício Mota","orcid":"0000-0001-9510-6956","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1131032,"name":"Francis Ribeiro de Souza","orcid":"0000-0001-8709-8706","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1131033,"name":"Maria Janieire de Nazaré Nunes Alves","orcid":"0000-0003-3207-623X","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1131034,"name":"Bruna E. Ono","orcid":"0000-0003-4235-3691","position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1131035,"name":"João Eduardo Izaías","orcid":"0000-0002-3312-489X","position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1131036,"name":"Artur O. Sales","orcid":"0000-0001-9795-3745","position":10,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1131434,"name":"Thais S. 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