Physiological stressor impact on peripheral facial temperature, Il-6 and mean arterial pressure, in young people

• Published in: Journal of thermal biology 2020-07, Vol.91, p.102616-11, Article 102616
• Main Authors: Cruz-Albarran, Irving A., Rodriguez-Medina, David A., Leija-Alva, Gerardo, Dominguez-Trejo, Benjamin, Osornio-Rios, Roque A., Morales-Hernandez, Luis A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biothermomarkers; Blood pressure; Cheek; Face; Inflammation; Inflammatory activity; Infrared thermography; Interleukin 6; Long-term effects; Mean arterial pressure; Nose; Social interactions; Trier Social Stress Test; Women
• ISSN: 0306-4565; 1879-0992
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jtherbio.2020.102616

Nowadays, stress is part of everyday life, whose long-term effects can trigger health risks. Among the main alterations that occur in the human body we can find the variation of inflammatory activity, blood pressure, and facial peripheral temperature. The objective of this work is to show the facial thermal behavior for men and women, as well as the differences in vascular and inflammatory responses induced by the effect of acute social stress. The Trier Social Stress Test was applied to 15 women and 15 men, free of disease, with an average age of 23.8 years and a standard deviation of 5.52. After capturing the baseline state, and at the end of the test, the inflammatory activity was measured through salivary interleukin-6; the mean blood pressure, and the capture of facial thermographic images. For the thermal images, six regions of interest (biothermomarkers) were analyzed: forehead, right cheek, left cheek, chin, nose, and corrugator muscle. The results obtained after analyzing the information were: an increase in inflammatory activity, an increase in mean blood pressure, and significant temperature changes in different areas of interest of the face, depending on gender. For men, it only appeared in the region of the nose and women's forehead, cheeks, and nose. Furthermore, the correlation between the three variables (il-6, blood pressure, and temperature) was performed and no significant values were found. Regarding the relationship between genders, only significant values were found for il-6. •Inflammatory activity and mean blood pressure increase in stress situations.•When there is stress, the magnitude and direction of facial thermal changes depends on the gender.•Inflammatory activity and mean blood pressure occur at higher levels in men than in women.•There is no correlation between the inflammatory activity of the human body and the peripheral facial temperature.