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High-frequency variability in heart rate is related to COVID-19-associated worries six years later
Elevated resting heart rate variability (HRV) in the high frequency range has been proposed to be protective against worrying when facing environmental stressors. Yet, prospective studies using real-life stressors are still scarce. The present study set out to replicate the previous finding of reduc...
Autores principales: | , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Elsevier B.V.
2022
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9338444/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35917994 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2022.108404 |
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author | Wekenborg, Magdalena K. Schwerdtfeger, Andreas Aust, Fabienne Verkuil, Bart |
author_facet | Wekenborg, Magdalena K. Schwerdtfeger, Andreas Aust, Fabienne Verkuil, Bart |
author_sort | Wekenborg, Magdalena K. |
collection | PubMed |
description | Elevated resting heart rate variability (HRV) in the high frequency range has been proposed to be protective against worrying when facing environmental stressors. Yet, prospective studies using real-life stressors are still scarce. The present study set out to replicate the previous finding of reduced resting HRV predicting COVID-19-associated worries in a larger, more homogenous sample over a longer period of time (N = 123; age: 42.32 [SD:10.72]; 65.9 % female; average time lag: six years). In addition, we were interested in investigating the specificity of this effect with respect to worry content, other physiological markers of autonomic functions, and additional potentially relevant covariates with a special focus on a potential moderating effect of sex on this association. In regression analyses adjusting for age, sex, BMI and smoking status, the interaction between HRV and sex was significant, with women depicting a stronger association between HRV and COVID-19 associated worries. Further sensitivity analyses revealed the specificity of the effect for HRV as distinct from mean heart rate, as well as its dependence on previous COVID-19 infection, but not COVID-19 vaccination status and chronic stress level. These data are in line with theories that propose that higher HRV levels can be protective against the deleterious effects of real-life environmental stressors. However, our results also point to the specificity of this effect, especially with respect to worry content and sex. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-9338444 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2022 |
publisher | Elsevier B.V. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-93384442022-08-01 High-frequency variability in heart rate is related to COVID-19-associated worries six years later Wekenborg, Magdalena K. Schwerdtfeger, Andreas Aust, Fabienne Verkuil, Bart Biol Psychol Short Communication Elevated resting heart rate variability (HRV) in the high frequency range has been proposed to be protective against worrying when facing environmental stressors. Yet, prospective studies using real-life stressors are still scarce. The present study set out to replicate the previous finding of reduced resting HRV predicting COVID-19-associated worries in a larger, more homogenous sample over a longer period of time (N = 123; age: 42.32 [SD:10.72]; 65.9 % female; average time lag: six years). In addition, we were interested in investigating the specificity of this effect with respect to worry content, other physiological markers of autonomic functions, and additional potentially relevant covariates with a special focus on a potential moderating effect of sex on this association. In regression analyses adjusting for age, sex, BMI and smoking status, the interaction between HRV and sex was significant, with women depicting a stronger association between HRV and COVID-19 associated worries. Further sensitivity analyses revealed the specificity of the effect for HRV as distinct from mean heart rate, as well as its dependence on previous COVID-19 infection, but not COVID-19 vaccination status and chronic stress level. These data are in line with theories that propose that higher HRV levels can be protective against the deleterious effects of real-life environmental stressors. However, our results also point to the specificity of this effect, especially with respect to worry content and sex. Elsevier B.V. 2022-09 2022-07-30 /pmc/articles/PMC9338444/ /pubmed/35917994 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2022.108404 Text en © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Since January 2020 Elsevier has created a COVID-19 resource centre with free information in English and Mandarin on the novel coronavirus COVID-19. The COVID-19 resource centre is hosted on Elsevier Connect, the company's public news and information website. Elsevier hereby grants permission to make all its COVID-19-related research that is available on the COVID-19 resource centre - including this research content - immediately available in PubMed Central and other publicly funded repositories, such as the WHO COVID database with rights for unrestricted research re-use and analyses in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for free by Elsevier for as long as the COVID-19 resource centre remains active. |
spellingShingle | Short Communication Wekenborg, Magdalena K. Schwerdtfeger, Andreas Aust, Fabienne Verkuil, Bart High-frequency variability in heart rate is related to COVID-19-associated worries six years later |
title | High-frequency variability in heart rate is related to COVID-19-associated worries six years later |
title_full | High-frequency variability in heart rate is related to COVID-19-associated worries six years later |
title_fullStr | High-frequency variability in heart rate is related to COVID-19-associated worries six years later |
title_full_unstemmed | High-frequency variability in heart rate is related to COVID-19-associated worries six years later |
title_short | High-frequency variability in heart rate is related to COVID-19-associated worries six years later |
title_sort | high-frequency variability in heart rate is related to covid-19-associated worries six years later |
topic | Short Communication |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9338444/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35917994 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2022.108404 |
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