Key result
Unmedicated patients with paranoid schizophrenia exhibited significantly altered heart rate patterns, respiratory patterns, and cardiorespiratory couplings compared to healthy controls (p<0.0061).
Why the study?
Are cardiorespiratory couplings and heart rate patterns altered in unmedicated patients with paranoid schizophrenia compared to healthy relatives and controls?
Observational (n=63)
Are cardiorespiratory couplings and heart rate patterns altered in unmedicated patients with paranoid schizophrenia compared to healthy relatives and controls?
p-value: p=<0.0061
Unmedicated patients with paranoid schizophrenia exhibit significantly altered cardiorespiratory couplings and heart rate patterns, suggesting impaired autonomic regulation during acute psychosis.
Altered cardiorespiratory patterns may indicate autonomic dysregulation in acute psychosis; hypothesis-generating and requires prospective validation before clinical use.
Schizophrenia as a mental illness is one of the most serious in the world. Patients with schizophrenia have an increased cardiac mortality rate, but the reasons for this remain unclear. In addition to other factors, the role of impaired autonomic regulation during acute psychosis has become more evident in different studies applying heart rate (HR) variability analyses. But, until now, respiration and cardiorespiratory regulation, which are important for homeostatic control, have not been considered. In this study, short-term cardiorespiratory couplings (CRCs) of 23 unmedicated patients with paranoid schizophrenia (SZO), 20 of their healthy first-degree relatives (REL) and 20 healthy subjects (CON) matched according to age and sex of SZO and REL were investigated by applying high-resolution joint symbolic dynamics (HRJSD) analysis. We found a significantly (p<0.0061) altered HR pattern, respiratory pattern and CRCs in SZO and only marginal alterations for the REL group in comparison with the CON group when we applied HRJSD. These results might be an indication of decreased vagal activity within the brainstem, an altered or suppressed interaction of the brainstem and higher regulatory centres, or panic- and anxiety-related changes in the brainstem associated with the acute psychosis of these patients.
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Schulz et al. (2014) conducted an observational in Schizophrenia (n=63). Paranoid schizophrenia vs. Healthy first-degree relatives and healthy subjects was evaluated on Heart rate pattern, respiratory pattern and cardiorespiratory couplings (CRCs) assessed by high-resolution joint symbolic dynamics (p=<0.0061). Unmedicated patients with paranoid schizophrenia exhibited significantly altered heart rate patterns, respiratory patterns, and cardiorespiratory couplings compared to healthy controls (p<0.0061).
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