Reduced Heart Rate Variability Is Associated With Worse Cognitive Performance in Elderly Mexican Americans

Abstract

Reduced Heart Rate Variability is a strong predictor of cardiovascular risk factors, cardiovascular events and mortality; and thus may be associated with cognitive neurodegeneration. Yet this has been relatively unexplored, particularly in minority populations with high cardiovascular burden. We used data from the Sacramento Area Latino Study on Aging to examine the cross-sectional association of reduced heart rate variability with cognitive function among elderly Mexican Americans. A total of 869 participants (mean age of 75 years; 59% females) had their 6-minute heart rate variability measured using an ECG monitor and respiration pacer in response to deep breathing. We used the Mean Circular Resultant, known as R bar, as a measure of heart rate variability and categorized it into quartiles (Q1 to Q4 of R bar: reduced to high heart rate variability). Cognitive function was assessed using the Modified Mini Mental State Exam, a 100-point test of global cognitive function and the Spanish and English Verbal Learning Test, a 15-point test of verbal memory recall. In fully-adjusted linear regression models, participants in quartile 1 had a 4-point lower Modified Mini Mental State Exam score (p<0.01), those in quartile 2 had 2-point lower score (p=0.04), and those in quartile 3 had 1-point lower score (p=0.35), as compared to those in the highest quartile of R bar. Reduced R bar was not associated with verbal memory. Our results suggest that reduced heart rate variability is associated with worse performance on the test of global cognitive function, above and beyond traditional cardiovascular risk factors.

Exercise, Sedentary Pastimes, and Cognitive Performance in Healthy Older Adults

“…Assessment programs could be low cost, noninvasive, and easily executed. Shortcuts for calculations (target heart rate zones, heart rate variability, 43 rate of perceived exertion, maximum oxygen consumption [VO 2max ], body fat composition, 44 balance, and flexibility) and prototype exercise prescriptions are in Appendices A and B. 45 …”

Using pupil size and heart rate to infer affective states during behavioral neurophysiology and neuropsychology experiments

“…Like pupillary changes, changes in HR and HRV are thought to reflect cognitive (15, 16) and emotional states (14, 20, 23). HR and HRV, however, can be used to capture changes in emotional or cognitive states over a longer time period (minutes) than pupillary responses, which return to baseline within seconds after an event.…”

“…The interpretation of autonomic outputs, however, remains controversial (2). Inferred internal states and associated behavioral consequences vary among studies and have included veracity (2, 3), valence (4), reward (5, 6), surprise (7), attention (8), vigilance (9), arousal (10, 11), anxiety (12, 13), impulse control and emotional clarity (14), and cognitive performance (15–18). Some of these states have been grouped into the regulation and expression of emotion (19–21).…”

Long-term exposure to space’s microgravity alters the time structure of heart rate variability of astronauts

“…The power-law fractal scaling of heart rate variability (HRV) relates to the autonomic [15], endocrine [15], immune, inflammatiory [16, 17], mental, cognitive [18], and behavioral systems, which operate at multiple frequency ranges, from the 1 Hz cardiac cycle to circadian and even secular variations, as part of a broad time structure, the chronome [19]. Herein, we examine how the space environment affects HRV in specific frequency regions, broken down into 8 different frequency ranges.…”