Are affective disorders associated with alterations of heart rate variability?

• Published in: Journal of affective disorders 1994-12, Vol.32 (4), p.271-275
• Main Authors: Rechlin, Thomas, Weis, Maria, Spitzer, Alfred, Kaschka, Wolfgang P.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adjustment Disorders - diagnosis; Adjustment Disorders - physiopathology; Adjustment Disorders - psychology; Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Amitriptyline - therapeutic use; Arousal - drug effects; Arousal - physiology; Biological and medical sciences; Depression; Depressive Disorder - diagnosis; Depressive Disorder - drug therapy; Depressive Disorder - physiopathology; Depressive Disorder - psychology; Electrocardiography - drug effects; Female; Heart Rate - drug effects; Heart Rate - physiology; Heart rate analysis; Heart rate variability; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Melancholic depression; Mood disorders; Panic disorder; Panic Disorder - diagnosis; Panic Disorder - physiopathology; Panic Disorder - psychology; Parasympathetic Nervous System - drug effects; Parasympathetic Nervous System - physiopathology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Reactive depression; Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; Suicide, Attempted - psychology; Sympathetic Nervous System - drug effects; Sympathetic Nervous System - physiopathology
• ISSN: 0165-0327; 1573-2517
• DOI: 10.1016/0165-0327(94)90091-4

A standardized heart rate analysis was carried out in unmedicated patients with major depression, melancholic type ( n = 16), panic disorder ( n = 16), reactive depression with suicide attempts during the preceding 24 h ( n = 16) and in 16 normal control subjects. The investigations included time- and frequency-derived measurements of heart rate variability. In the patients with reactive depression, no differences could be detected as compared with the control group. The patients with panic disorder showed a significantly increased low-frequency band of spectral analysis ( P < 0.01) and a marginally significant increment of heart rate ( P = 0.05), probably indicating predominance of sympathetic control of heart rate. In the patients with major depression, we found significantly lower values of heart's beat-to-beat intervals and of the high-frequency peak of spectral analysis than in the other groups ( P < 0.025), indicating decreased parasympathetic activity.