Key result
Adolescents with a history of depression and STBs exhibited blunted parasympathetic responses (lack of RSA decrease) and greater PEP shortening during stress compared to controls and depressed peers.
Why the study?
Suicidal thoughts and behaviors have been linked to emotion dysregulation, prompting investigation into the underlying psychophysiology through autonomic responses to stressful and sadness-eliciting stimuli.
Do autonomic responses (RSA and PEP) to stress and sadness differ among adolescents with depression and STBs compared to those without STBs and healthy controls?
Observational (n=399)
Do autonomic responses (RSA and PEP) to stress and sadness differ among adolescents with depression and STBs compared to those without STBs and healthy controls?
Adolescents with a history of depression and suicidal thoughts and behaviors exhibit blunted parasympathetic responses and greater sympathetic reactivity to stress.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Autonomic reactivity differences linked to STBs in depressed adolescents should not yet change practice; leaves open predictive value for risk or treatment response.
Suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs) have been associated with emotion dysregulation and atypical responses to affective and stressful stimuli. To investigate the psychophysiology involved, we measured changes in respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and cardiac pre-ejection period (PEP; indexing parasympathetic and sympathetic functioning, respectively) in response to stressful- and sadness-eliciting laboratory probes. Our sample included adolescents with a history of depression and STBs (n = 177), adolescents with a history of depression but no history of STBs (n = 47), and healthy controls (n = 175). The outcome of interest was the most severe form of clinician-rated STBs across the subject's lifetime. In partial support of our hypotheses, during the stressful task, adolescents with a history of depression and STBs did not evidence the RSA decrease that was exhibited by controls and displayed greater PEP shortening compared to ever-depressed adolescents with no lifetime STBs. No group differences were found in either RSA or PEP reactivity to the sadness-eliciting stimulus. As expected, severity of STBs was positively correlated with the extent of PEP shortening during the stressful task. The results suggest that adolescents with a history of depression and STBs experience blunted parasympathetic responses to stress along with compensatory efforts. Our findings contribute to a better understanding of STBs among youths and underscore that future studies should examine physiological risk factors for these psychopathological outcomes.
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Yang et al. (2019) conducted an observational in Depression and suicidal thoughts and behaviors (n=399). History of depression and suicidal thoughts and behaviors vs. Adolescents with depression but no STBs, and healthy controls was evaluated on Changes in respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and cardiac pre-ejection period (PEP) in response to stressful- and sadness-eliciting laboratory probes. Adolescents with a history of depression and STBs exhibited blunted parasympathetic responses (lack of RSA decrease) and greater PEP shortening during stress compared to controls and depressed peers.
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