Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia Reactivity in Current and Remitted Major Depressive Disorder

Abstract

Objective Low resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) levels and blunted RSA reactivity are thought to index impaired emotion regulation capacity. Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) has been associated with abberant RSA reactivity and recovery to a speech stressor task relative to healthy controls. Whether impaired RSA functioning reflects aspects of the depressed mood state or a stable vulnerability marker for depression is unknown. Methods We compared resting RSA and RSA reactivity between individuals with MDD (n=49), remitted depression (RMD, n=24), and healthy controls (n=45). ECG data were collected during a resting baseline, a paced-breathing baseline, and two reactivity tasks (speech stressor, cold exposure). Results A group by time quadratic effect emerged (F=4.36(2,109), p=.015) for RSA across phases of the speech stressor (baseline, instruction, preparation, speech, recovery). Follow-up analyses revealed that those with MDD uniquely exhibited blunted RSA reactivity, whereas RMD and controls both exhibited normal task-related vagal withdrawal and post-task recovery. The group by time interaction remained after covariation for age, sex, waist circumference, physical activity, and respiration, but not sleep quality. Conclusions These results provide new evidence that abberant RSA reactivity marks features that track the depressed state, such as poor sleep, rather than a stable trait evident among asymtomatic persons.

Depression impacts the physiological responsiveness of mother-daughter dyads during social interaction

“…In contrast, MDD mothers and daughters displayed little consistent change in HF-HRV during the interaction tasks, suggesting that MDD dyads fail to mount a robust vagal response to these social interaction tasks. These results replicate and extend previous empirical evidence of “blunted” parasympathetic responses exhibited by depressed individuals to laboratory-based cues (Bylsma et al, 2014; Rottenberg et al, 2007). Because impairment in social relationships is common to depression (Segrin & Abramson, 1994), examination of vagal responsiveness during social interactions in depressed and non-depressed mother–child dyads constitutes an ecologically valid approach to examining these important issues.…”

Juvenile onset depression alters cardiac autonomic balance in response to psychological and physical challenges

“…More specifically, there is qualified support for an association between major depression in adults and low resting parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) activity, as indexed by resting levels of respiratory sinus arrhythmia, with mostly positive (RSA; Rottenberg, 2007; Udupa et al, 2007; Kemp, Guitana, Gray, Felmingham, Brown & Gatt, 2010; Kikuchi et al, 2009) but some negative results (e.g., Licht et al, 2008; Yeragani et al, 1991; Lehofer et al, 1997). More consistent findings have been observed for RSA reactivity in response to laboratory tasks, with depressed adults exhibiting blunted RSA withdrawal to a laboratory speech stressor (Rottenberg, Clift, Bolden, & Salomon, 2007; Bylsma, Salomon, Taylor-Clift, Morris & Rottenberg, 2014), as well as a handgrip task (Nugent, Bain, Thayer, Sollers, & Drevets, 2011). These patterns are postulated to relate to poorer self regulation.…”

Cardiac Vagal Control and Depressive Symptoms: The Moderating Role of Sleep Quality

“…Studies investigating the link between CVC and depressive symptoms have just started to take sleep quality into account, mainly in clinical samples (Bylsma, Salomon, Taylor-Clift, Morris, & Rottenberg, 2014; Yang et al, 2011). These studies support the idea that sleep may play a role in the link between CVC and depressive symptoms by showing, for example, links between reduced sleep quality and reduced CVC in depressed but not in healthy individuals (Yang et al, 2011).…”