Mental Stress Reactivity in Women With CMD

Recruiting now · Not applicable

Conditions studied: Post-menopause

In brief

Coronary Microvascular Dysfunction (CMD) occurs when there are problems in the small blood vessels/arteries of the heart, resulting in persistent chest pain that affects women. There are an estimated 3 million women in the US with CMD and about 100,000 new cases annually. This research will investigate whether the stress response physiology and autonomic function in response to mental stress are different in women with CMD compared to other groups. The autonomic nervous system (ANS) controls normally involuntary activities, such as heart rate, respiration (breathing), body temperature, blood pressure, and urinary function. This study will also examine how chronic and daily life mental stress affects the heart and blood vessels. Participants from this study will be recruited mainly from Emory Healthcare-associated hospitals, the Emory Heart Disease Center for Prevention, and Emory Healthcare outpatient cardiology clinics. Participants will have physical exams, blood tests, stress tests, exercise tests, surveys, questionnaires, and images taken of their hearts and blood vessels. They will be asked to take home devices to monitor their autonomic function, sleep, and track their mood, stress level, and symptoms for one week. Data and specimens will be saved for future research.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT05401630

Run by

Emory University

People needed

150

Starts

2022-07-19

Expected to finish

2026-12-31

Last updated by the study team

2026-01-29

Who can join

Age: 45 and older. Sex: female. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

You may qualify if…

• Symptomatic postmenopausal women with chest pain
• age≥45 years old
• willing to undergo cardiac MIBG scan
• willing to undergo mental stress testing
• competent to give informed consent

You may not qualify if…

• Significant epicardial stenosis (defined by coronary stenosis ≥ 70% in any epicardial coronary artery or hemodynamically significant stenosis determined by fractional flow reserve)
• Left ventricular systolic dysfunction (ejection fraction ≤ 50%)
• Heart failure with a preserved ejection fraction
• Significant anemia or blood dyscrasia
• Severe uncontrolled hypertension >180/100
• Unable to lie flat for mental stress testing
• Pre-menopausal
• Pregnant
• Pericarditis/myocarditis
• History of percutaneous coronary intervention
• Coronary artery bypass grafting
• Acute myocardial infarction/acute coronary syndrome/unstable angina within 1 month
• Significant valvular disease, including aortic or mitral stenosis
• Sinus node dysfunction/pacemaker, 2nd or 3rd-degree atrioventricular block
• Severe lung, renal, liver, or psychiatric illness
• Current neoplasm
• History of substance abuse
• Acute illness such as infection in the previous 4 weeks
• Life-expectancy less than 2 years
• Unable to safely withdraw medications for mental stress testing
• Significant psychiatric illness that precludes safe participation in the study
• Conditions that preclude accurate or safe testing and patient refusal
• Unable to consent
• Obstructive CAD (oCAD) Group
• Inclusion Criteria:

Where it is running

• Emory Hospital Midtown — Atlanta, Georgia, United States (enrolling)
• Emory Saint Joseph's Hospital — Atlanta, Georgia, United States (enrolling)
• Emory Clinic — Atlanta, Georgia, United States (enrolling)
• Emory Hospital — Atlanta, Georgia, United States (enrolling)

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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