ACE and Hypertension: To exclude the influence of prevalent diseases and potential confounders on the association of behavioural variables and HRV, we calculated age-adjusted models in healthy subjects, and we calculated multivariate adjusted models in the whole group (adjustment for age and additionally for CVD, diabetes mellitus, HR, education, hypertension, body mass index, beta blockers, ACE inhibitors, diuretics, calcium-channel blockers and anti-arrhythmic agents).