Low Heart Rate Variability (HRV), Depression, and Heart Attack
December 22nd, 2008An interesting study was reprinted in the Archives of Internal Medicine called “Low Heart Rate Variability and the Effect of Depression on Post-Myocardial Infarction Mortality.” The study looked at 311 depressed patients and 367 non depressed patients who had experienced a recent acute Myocardial Infarction (Heart Attack) within the previous 28 days. It presents research “suggesting that low HRV may be a mechanism linking depression to an increased risk for mortality” (p. 1486).
The research notes that low Heart Rate Variability (HRV) is a strong predictor of mortality in patients with a recent heart attack, independent of depression. And that depressed patients have been found to have lower HRV than when compared to medically similar, non depressed patients with stable coronary disease. The study found that a decreased survival rate and low HRV was associated with depression, and that “the effect of depression on survival is partially mediated by low HRV” (p. 1489) and supports that depression is a risk factor in mortality after a heart attack.
“It also raises the possibility that treatments that improve both depression and HRV might also improve survival in these patients” (p. 1486).
Activated Air has been shown to increase HRV, as described in the study by Kuchera available on our research page.
Source: Carney, R., et al. (2005), Low Heart Rate Variability and the Effect of Depression on Post-Myocardial Infaction Mortality. Archives of Internal Medicine, 165, 1486-1491.