Adult patients with depression had significantly lower heart rate variability, including SDNN (Hedges' g -0.87), compared to healthy controls, suggesting an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
Meta-Analysis (n=5,906)
Do depressed patients have lower heart rate variability compared to healthy individuals?
Depression is associated with reduced heart rate variability, which may serve as a theoretical basis for increased cardiovascular disease risk in this population.
Effect estimate: Hedges' g -0.87 (95% CI -1.14, -0.60)
p-value: p=<0.001
Purposes A meta-analysis was conducted to examine the differences in heart rate variability (HRV) between depressed patients and healthy individuals, with the purpose of providing a theoretical basis for the diagnosis of depression and the prevention of cardiovascular diseases. Methods To search China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), WanFang, VIP, PubMed, Web of Science, Science Direct, and Cochrane Library databases to collect case–control studies on HRV in depressed patients, the retrieval date is from the establishment of the database to December 2022. Effective Public Health Practice Project (EPHPP) scale was used to evaluate literature quality, and Stata14.0 software was used for meta-analysis. Results This study comprised of 43 papers, 22 written in Chinese and 21 in English, that included 2,359 subjects in the depression group and 3,547 in the healthy control group. Meta-analysis results showed that compared with the healthy control group, patients with depression had lower SDNN Hedges’ g = −0.87, 95% CI (−1.14, −0.60), Z = −6.254, p 0.01, RMSSD Hedges’ g = −0.51, 95% CI (−0.69,-0.33), Z = −5.525, p 0.01, PNN50 Hedges’ g = −0.43, 95% CI (−0.59, −0.27), Z = −5.245, p 0.01, LF Hedges’ g = −0.34, 95% CI (−0.55, − 0.13), Z = −3.104, p 0.01, and HF Hedges’ g = −0.51, 95% CI (−0.69, −0.33), Z = −5.669 p 0.01, and LF/HF Hedges’ g = −0.05, 95% CI (−0.27, 0.18), Z = −0.410, p = 0.682 showed no significant difference. Conclusion This research revealed that HRV measures of depressed individuals were lower than those of the healthy population, except for LF/HF, suggesting that people with depression may be more at risk of cardiovascular diseases than the healthy population.
Wu et al. (Tue,) conducted a meta-analysis in Depression (n=5,906). Depression vs. Healthy controls was evaluated on SDNN (standard deviation of R-R intervals) (Hedges' g -0.87, 95% CI -1.14, -0.60, p=<0.001). Adult patients with depression had significantly lower heart rate variability, including SDNN (Hedges' g -0.87), compared to healthy controls, suggesting an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.