This article looks at specifics of anxiety and depression symptomatology as a function of HRV. There is correlation with the specific trait of “worry”. I was interested in this part of their conclusion since this approach, of identifying subgroups most likely to respond to treatment, is very much a part of my HRV/Acupuncture project.
“The establishment of HRV as reliable transdiagnostic biomarker for worry may help facilitate the development of novel treatments (e.g., Non-invasive transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation) and the identification of specific subgroups that are more likely to respond to such treatments.”
Worry is associated with robust reductions in heart rate variability: a transdiagnostic study of anxiety psychopathology
Abstract
Background
Individuals with anxiety disorders display reduced resting-state heart rate variability (HRV), although findings have been contradictory and the role of specific symptoms has been less clear. It is possible that HRV reductions may transcend diagnostic categories, consistent with dimensional-trait models of psychopathology. Here we investigated whether anxiety disorders or symptoms of anxiety, stress, worry and depression are more strongly associated with resting-state HRV.
Methods
Resting-state HRV was calculated in participants with clinical anxiety (n = 25) and healthy controls (n = 58). Symptom severity measures of worry, anxiety, stress, and depression were also collected from participants, regardless of diagnosis.
Results
Participants who fulfilled DSM-IV criteria for an anxiety disorder displayed diminished HRV, a difference at trend level significance (p = .1, Hedges’ g = -.37, BF10 = .84). High worriers (Total n = 41; n = 22 diagnosed with an anxiety disorder and n = 19 not meeting criteria for any psychopathology) displayed a robust reduction in resting state HRV relative to low worriers (p = .001, Hedges’ g = -.75, BF10 = 28.16).
Conclusions
The specific symptom of worry – not the diagnosis of an anxiety disorder – was associated with the most robust reductions in HRV, indicating that HRV may provide a transdiagnostic biomarker of worry. These results enhance understanding of the relationship between the cardiac autonomic nervous system and anxiety psychopathology, providing support for dimensional-trait models consistent with the Research Domain Criteria framework.
