Why the study?
Are somatic and cognitive-affective depressive symptoms differentially related to cardiac autonomic function and cortisol in preadolescents?
Are somatic and cognitive-affective depressive symptoms differentially related to cardiac autonomic function and cortisol in preadolescents?
Somatic and cognitive-affective depressive symptoms have opposite associations with cardiac autonomic and HPA axis function in preadolescents, suggesting somatic symptoms may specifically mark cardiac risk.
Somatic symptoms may mark higher cardiac risk in preadolescents; leaves open causality and clinical utility pending longitudinal data.
Objective: To examine in a nonclinical sample of preadolescents the possibility that somatic and cognitive-affective depressive symptoms are differentially related with the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Depression is a well-known risk factor for cardiovascular disease and mortality. Dysregulation of the ANS and the HPA axis have been proposed as underlying mechanisms. Several studies suggest that only a subset of the depression symptoms account for associations with cardiovascular prognosis. Methods: Self-reported somatic and cognitive-affective depressive symptoms were examined in relationship to heart rate variability (HRV), spontaneous baroreflex sensitivity (BRS), and the cortisol awakening response (CAR) in 2049 preadolescents (mean age = 11.1 years; 50.7% = girls) from the Tracking Adolescents' Individual Lives Survey (TRAILS). Results: Physiological measurements were not associated with the overall measure of depressive symptoms. Somatic depressive symptoms were negatively related to HRV and BRS, and positively to the CAR; cognitive-affective depressive symptoms were positively related to HRV and BRS, and negatively to the CAR. Associations with the CAR pertained to boys only. Conclusions: Somatic and cognitive-affective depressive symptoms differ in their association with both cardiac autonomic and HPA axis function in preadolescents. Particularly, somatic depression symptoms may mark cardiac risk. ANS = autonomic nervous system; BP = blood pressure; BRS = baroreflex sensitivity; CAR = cortisol awakening response; CVD = cardiovascular disease; HPA = hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal; HR = heart rate; HRV = heart rate variability; HRV-LF = heart rate variability in the low-frequency band; HRV-HF = heart rate variability in the high-frequency band; MI = myocardial infarction; SD = standard deviation; YSR = Youth Self-Report.
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Bosch et al. (2009) studied this question.
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