Key result
Depression, order of activities, and session affected vagal tone readings during normal breathing, while only depression state affected readings during numeric activities.
Why the study?
What factors affect cardiovascular reactivity and vagal tone readings in response to environmental stresses?
Observational
What factors affect cardiovascular reactivity and vagal tone readings in response to environmental stresses?
Depression state and session variables significantly influence vagal tone readings during stress tasks, suggesting these factors should be accounted for in heart rate variability studies.
Depression and session effects may confound vagal tone readings; leaves open standardization needs in HRV protocols.
This pilot study investigates the cardiovascular reactivity of a person to stresses introduced in the subject's environment. The responses to these stresses were correlated to specific factors and variables. Variables such as personality, environment, familial history of diseases, and previous stress/non-stress events were used. The results of this study will hopefully aid in the more accurate recording and interpretation of cardiovascular data by realizing the different factors, if any exist, that affect cardiovascular readings. Even if levels of cardiovascular reactivity do not directly influence heart rate variability, cardiovascular reactivity may need to be accounted for in heart rate variability studies that measure any of the above variables. Results showed that depression, order of the activities, session, and the interaction of depression and order or session affected the vagal tone readings for the normal breathing activity. Readings for both numeric activities were affected by only the subject's depression state. Other factors did not provide insight to the differences in vagal tone readings between subjects.
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Ventura et al. (2002) conducted an observational in Cardiovascular reactivity. Environmental stresses and subject factors (e.g., depression) was evaluated on Vagal tone readings. Depression, order of activities, and session affected vagal tone readings during normal breathing, while only depression state affected readings during numeric activities.
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