Key result
A history of depression indirectly affected young adult diastolic blood pressure through lower resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia, indicating impaired cardiac vagal control mediates this relationship.
Why the study?
Depression has been associated with high blood pressure, but the underlying mechanisms linking the two remain unclear.
Does impaired cardiac vagal control mediate the relationship between past depression and later blood pressure in young adults?
Cohort (n=404)
Does impaired cardiac vagal control mediate the relationship between past depression and later blood pressure in young adults?
Impaired cardiac vagal control, indicated by lower resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia, appears to mediate the relationship between a history of depression in adolescence and elevated diastolic blood pressure in young adulthood.
Suggests vagal monitoring in depressed youth; hypothesis-generating for whether RSA improvement alters later diastolic BP.
Depression has been associated with high blood pressure (BP). However, the mechanisms of the relation between depression and high BP are unclear. We therefore examined whether impaired cardiac vagal control, indexed as low levels of resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), serves as a route from depression to high BP. The sample included 125 subjects with histories of depression (probands), 123 never depressed siblings of probands (high‐risk siblings), and 156 controls. Resting RSA was assessed at Time 1 (T1) along with BP when subjects were adolescents ( M age = 16.3 years); systolic and diastolic BP (SBP and DBP) were measured again at Time 2 (T2) when subjects were young adults ( M age = 22.3 years). Linear mixed‐effects models were used to examine the group differences in resting RSA and T2 BP outcomes and to test for RSA mediation of the relation between depression (history or being at high risk) and BP. Resting RSA was lower among probands than controls but was similar among high‐risk siblings and controls, while the subject groups did not differ in T2 SBP or DBP. Controlling for T1 BP, depression history indirectly affected T2 DBP (but not SBP) through resting RSA. The findings suggest that, although the direct detrimental effects of depression on BP are not yet evident in young adulthood, among those with depression histories, impaired cardiac vagal control appears to serve as a mechanism of elevated DBP.
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Yang et al. (2020) conducted a cohort in Depression and high blood pressure (n=404). History of depression vs. Never depressed siblings and controls was evaluated on Resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and Time 2 systolic and diastolic blood pressure. A history of depression indirectly affected young adult diastolic blood pressure through lower resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia, indicating impaired cardiac vagal control mediates this relationship.
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