Depressive Symptoms Are Related to Decreased Low-Frequency Heart Rate Variability in Older Adults with Decompensated Heart Failure

SALVADOR M. GUINJOAN; MARIANA N. CASTRO; DANIEL E. VIGO; HYLKE WEIDEMA; CARLOS BERBARA; RODOLFO D. FAHRER; HUGO GRANCELLI; MARTÍN NOGUÉS; RAMÓN C. LEIGUARDA; DANIEL P. CARDINALI

NEUROPSYCHOBIOLOGY

Año: 2007 vol. 55 p. 219 - 224

0302-282X

Depression has been associated with increased mortality among individuals with heart failure, but the mechanism for this association is unsettled. Depression is often found to result in autonomic dysfunction which, if present in heart failure, might help to explain worsened outcomes. This study was a cross-sectional evaluation of the relationship between depressive symptoms and cardiac autonomic function, as assessed by short-term heart rate variability (HRV) analysis in aged patients with acute/decompensated heart failure of coronary origin (CHF). A 21-item Hamilton Depression score (HAM-D) and measures of short-term HRV were obtained in 31 inpatients ¡Ý65 years of age, 24-72 h after admission to the coronary care unit with a diagnosis of CHF. Clinical depression was present in 22.6% of participants. In the sample as a whole, increasing depressive symptoms were associated with decreased low-frequency HRV. These results may be important in light of recent indications that decreased low-frequency HRV is a predictor of mortality in patients with heart failure.