Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback. 2013 Mar;38(1):1-9. doi: 10.1007/s10484-012-9202-5.
The current study investigated whether biofeedback training aimed at increasing respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), a measure of cardiac vagal modulation, can reduce depressive symptoms in patients after cardiac surgery. This randomized controlled study enrolled 26 patients after first-time cardiac surgery. The patients were randomly assigned to an RSA-biofeedback group (N = 13) or to a treatment as usual group (N = 13). The biofeedback training consisted of five 45 min sessions designed to increase RSA. The outcome was assessed as changes in RSA and in the Centre for Epidemiologic Studies of Depression (CES-D) values from pre- to post-training. Both groups were comparable for demographic and biomedical characteristics. RSA increased significantly in patients who underwent RSA-biofeedback compared to controls. Moreover, the CES-D scores were reduced significantly from pre- to post-training in the RSA-biofeedback group compared to the controls. Changes in RSA were inversely related to changes in CES-D scores from pre- to post-training. These findings extend the effectiveness of RSA-biofeedback for increasing vagal modulation as well as for reducing depressive symptoms in post-surgical patients. Overall, the current study also suggests that this biobehavioral intervention may add to the efficacy of postoperative risk reduction programs and rehabilitation protocols in cardiac surgery patients.
本研究旨在探讨生物反馈训练（旨在增加呼吸窦性心律失常（RSA），即反映心脏迷走神经调节的指标）是否可以减轻心脏手术后患者的抑郁症状。这是一项随机对照研究，共纳入 26 名首次接受心脏手术的患者。患者随机分为 RSA 生物反馈组（N=13）和常规治疗组（N=13）。生物反馈训练包括 5 次每次 45 分钟的课程，旨在增加 RSA。结果评估为从训练前到训练后的 RSA 和流行病学研究中心抑郁量表（CES-D）值的变化。两组在人口统计学和生物医学特征方面具有可比性。与对照组相比，接受 RSA 生物反馈的患者 RSA 明显增加。此外，与对照组相比，RSA 生物反馈组的 CES-D 评分从训练前到训练后明显降低。从训练前到训练后，RSA 的变化与 CES-D 评分的变化呈负相关。这些发现扩展了 RSA 生物反馈在增加迷走神经调节和减轻手术后患者抑郁症状方面的有效性。总的来说，本研究还表明，这种生物行为干预可能会增加心脏手术后患者术后风险降低计划和康复方案的疗效。
