Heart rate variability (HRV) is an electrocardiograph-based technique that assesses
sympathovagal activity over the heartbeat. Lower HRV (i.e., low power in the low frequency
of the power spectral analysis) has been associated with an increased risk for myocardial
infarction (
1
) and other cardiovascular conditions and thus is a biomarker for cardiac illness.
Two articles recently published in Biological Psychiatry showed that lower HRV is observed in major depressive disorder (MDD). However, whereas
the meta-analysis of Kemp et al. (
2
) showed that this was associated more robustly with MDD severity, the longitudinal
study of Licht et al. (
3
) observed that antidepressants were associated with lower HRV and their withdrawal
with HRV increasing, therefore suggesting that they could play a key role for diminished
vagal control over the heart of MDD treated patients. Because such patients present
increased cardiovascular burden (
4
), it is mandatory to investigate whether antidepressants might decrease HRV and whether
this contributes to such elevated cardiovascular risk.To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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References
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: December 05, 2011
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© 2012 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Access this article on ScienceDirectLinked Article
- Longitudinal Evidence for Unfavorable Effects of Antidepressants on Heart Rate VariabilityBiological PsychiatryVol. 68Issue 9
- Impact of Depression and Antidepressant Treatment on Heart Rate Variability: A Review and Meta-AnalysisBiological PsychiatryVol. 67Issue 11
- PreviewDepression is associated with an increase in the likelihood of cardiac events; however, studies investigating the relationship between depression and heart rate variability (HRV) have generally focused on patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD). The objective of the current report is to examine with meta-analysis the impact of depression and antidepressant treatment on HRV in depressed patients without CVD.
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- Reply to: Are Antidepressants Good for the Soul but Bad for the Matter? Using Noninvasive Brain Stimulation to Detangle Depression/Antidepressants Effects on Heart Rate Variability and Cardiovascular RiskBiological PsychiatryVol. 71Issue 7
- PreviewWe thank Brunoni et al. (1) for their interesting and thoughtful commentary on our review and meta-analysis on heart rate variability (HRV) (2). Heart rate variability has generated significant interest in the research and clinical communities, because it predicts future mortality (3,4) and might underlie the poor social functioning observed in a variety of psychiatric disorders (5), including major depressive disorder (MDD).
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