Fatness is related to blunted vascular stress responsivity, independent of cardiorespiratory fitness in normal and overweight men

Obesity is associated with disturbed cardiovascular responsivity to mental stress, which may mediate psychosocial disease pathways. Whether being aerobically fit is protective against psychophysiological dysfunction in the presence of overweight or obesity is undetermined. Peripheral blood flow, blood pressure, and cardiac responses were measured during a 2-min mental stress task in 48 healthy men (aged 18–32 years). Mental stress-evoked increases in mean arterial pressure and heart rate, forearm vasodilatation, and cardiac parasympathetic withdrawal. Multiple linear regression analyses adjusted for age, peak oxygen uptake, and baseline forearm vascular resistance, revealed that greater fatness was related to a blunted vasodilatation response to mental stress (β = − .31, p < .05). There were no interactive effects of fitness and fatness. Fitness does not appear to moderate the association between fatness and impaired vascular stress responsivity in normal and overweight men.