Fiol-Veny Aina, De La Torre-Luque Alejandro, Balle Maria, Bornas Xavier
Department of Psychology, University Research Institute on Health Sciences (IUNICS), University of the Balearic Islands, Palma, Spain.
Department of Psychiatry, Mental Health Networking Biomedical Research Centre, Autonomous University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
Front Physiol. 2018 Jul 9;9:852. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2018.00852. eCollection 2018.
The association between decreased heart rate variability (HRV) and increased internalizing symptoms is well documented. Adolescence is a critical period for the development of mental health problems, in particular internalizing symptoms. Previous research has illustrated sex differences in adolescent HRV, such that females have reduced short-term resting state HRV compared to males. Studies on long-term ecological recordings of HRV in adolescents are scarce. The aims of the present study were, (a) to test if adolescent females show decreased long-term HRV and cardiac complexity (CC) compared to males, and (b) to explore whether sex and HRV and CC measures, as well as their interaction, would predict internalizing symptoms. HRV was recorded in = 166 adolescents (86 girls), on a normal school day. HRV and CC measures were calculated on the interbeat interval time series. Females showed lower HRV and CC in most of the assessed indices. Internalizing symptoms were mainly predicted by HRV whereas sex only predicted symptoms of social anxiety. The interaction between sex and HRV did not predict internalizing symptoms. Results suggest that reduced HRV should be considered as a potential contributor to exacerbating internalizing symptoms in adolescence. Girls with reduced HRV and CC might be prone to the development of internalizing disorders. HRV is a promising tool for the early identification of vulnerability.
心率变异性（HRV）降低与内化症状增加之间的关联已有充分记录。青春期是心理健康问题尤其是内化症状发展的关键时期。先前的研究表明青少年HRV存在性别差异，即与男性相比，女性的短期静息状态HRV降低。关于青少年HRV长期生态记录的研究很少。本研究的目的是：（a）测试与男性相比，青少年女性的长期HRV和心脏复杂性（CC）是否降低；（b）探讨性别、HRV和CC测量指标及其相互作用是否能预测内化症状。在正常上课日对166名青少年（86名女孩）进行了HRV记录。根据心跳间期时间序列计算HRV和CC测量指标。在大多数评估指标中，女性的HRV和CC较低。内化症状主要由HRV预测，而性别仅预测社交焦虑症状。性别与HRV之间的相互作用不能预测内化症状。结果表明，HRV降低应被视为青春期加剧内化症状的一个潜在因素。HRV和CC降低的女孩可能容易患上内化障碍。HRV是早期识别易感性的一个有前景的工具。
