Assessment of Heart Rate Variability and Autonomic Function in Patients with Major Depressive Disorder: A Comparative Study with Healthy Controls
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.30750/ijpbr.14.4.08Keywords:
Major depressive disorder; heart rate variability; autonomic function; parasympathetic activity; sympathetic activity; SDNN; RMSSD; LF/HF ratio.Abstract
Background: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a common psychiatric disorder associated not only with psychological symptoms
but also with disturbances in cardiovascular and autonomic regulation. Heart rate variability (HRV) is a non-invasive physiological
marker that provides information regarding cardiac autonomic modulation. Reduced HRV, particularly reduced vagally mediated
components, has been reported in patients with depression and may partly explain the increased cardiovascular risk associated with
MDD. The present study was undertaken to assess HRV and autonomic function in patients with MDD and compare the findings
with healthy controls.
Materials and Methods: A comparative cross-sectional study was conducted among 120 adults, comprising 60 patients diagnosed
with MDD and 60 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Participants underwent standardized cardiovascular autonomic assessment
and short-term resting ECG recording for HRV analysis. Time-domain parameters including SDNN and RMSSD and frequencydomain
parameters including low-frequency (LF), high-frequency (HF) power and LF/HF ratio were assessed. Heart rate and blood
pressure were also recorded. Independent-samples t-test and repeated-measures analysis were used for comparison. A p value <0.05
was considered statistically significant.
Results: Patients with MDD had significantly higher resting heart rate and significantly lower SDNN, RMSSD and HF-HRV compared
with healthy controls. The LF/HF ratio was significantly higher in the MDD group. Conventional autonomic tests also demonstrated
significantly reduced parasympathetic function in patients with MDD. The differences in HRV and autonomic function between the
groups were statistically significant, with p values <0.001 for most parameters.
Conclusion: Patients with MDD demonstrated significant alteration of cardiac autonomic function characterized predominantly by
reduced parasympathetic modulation and relative sympathovagal imbalance. HRV assessment may provide a useful non-invasive
physiological measure for identifying autonomic dysregulation in patients with MDD.
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