Key result
Children reached adult levels of baseline vagal tone by 5 years and demonstrated consistent child-mother concordance in baseline-to-task change in vagal tone.
Why the study?
How do vagal tone and heart period develop and correlate between children and mothers from 2 months to 5 years of age?
Cohort
How do vagal tone and heart period develop and correlate between children and mothers from 2 months to 5 years of age?
Children reach adult levels of baseline vagal tone by 5 years of age and exhibit consistent child-mother concordance in vagal reactivity to environmental tasks.
May inform early pediatric autonomic monitoring; leaves open links to later cardiovascular outcomes.
In this prospective longitudinal study, vagal tone and heart period were measured at 2 months and at 5 years in children and their mothers to evaluate the development of vagal regulation at rest and during an environmental task. Child baseline vagal tone and heart period were discontinuous; mother baseline vagal tone was discontinuous, but heart period was continuous. Group mean baseline-to-task change in vagal tone and heart period were continuous in both children and mothers. Children reached adult levels of baseline vagal tone by 5 years and did not differ from their mothers in baseline-to-task change in vagal tone or heart period. Baseline vagal tone tended to be stable, but baseline heart period and baseline-to-task change in vagal tone and heart period were unstable in children; both were stable in mothers. Baseline-to-task change in vagal tone showed consistent child-mother concordance. These findings contribute to understanding psychophysiological development, especially the ontogenesis of the vagal system and its regulatory capacity.
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Bornstein et al. (2000) conducted a cohort in Development of vagal regulation. Development from 2 months to 5 years was evaluated on Vagal tone and heart period at rest and during an environmental task. Children reached adult levels of baseline vagal tone by 5 years and demonstrated consistent child-mother concordance in baseline-to-task change in vagal tone.