Department of Educational Studies, Purdue University, 100 N University Street, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA.
Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA.
J Autism Dev Disord. 2020 Nov;50(11):4183-4190. doi: 10.1007/s10803-020-04458-8.
Dysregulation of the autonomic nervous system (ANS), which can be indexed by heart rate variability (HRV), has been posited to contribute to core features of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, the relationship between ASD and HRV remains uncertain. We assessed tonic and phasic HRV of 21 children with ASD and 21 age- and IQ-matched typically developing (TD) children and examined (1) group differences in HRV and (2) associations between HRV and ASD symptomatology. Children with ASD showed significantly lower tonic HRV, but similar phasic HRV compared to TD children. Additionally, reduced tonic HRV was associated with atypical attentional responsivity in ASD. Our findings suggest ANS dysregulation is present in ASD and may contribute to atypical attentional responses to sensory stimulation.
自主神经系统（ANS）的失调，可通过心率变异性（HRV）来进行指标检测，据推测会导致自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）的核心特征。然而，ASD 与 HRV 之间的关系尚不确定。我们评估了 21 名 ASD 儿童和 21 名年龄和智商匹配的典型发育（TD）儿童的静息和瞬态 HRV，并考察了（1）HRV 的组间差异，以及（2）HRV 与 ASD 症状学之间的关联。与 TD 儿童相比，ASD 儿童的静息 HRV 显著降低，但瞬态 HRV 相似。此外，静息 HRV 降低与 ASD 中对感觉刺激的非典型注意力反应有关。我们的发现表明，ASD 中存在自主神经系统失调，并且可能导致对感觉刺激的非典型注意力反应。
