Department of Psychological Science, University of California, 4201 Social and Behavioral Sciences Gateway, Irvine, CA, 92697, USA.
Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback. 2022 Mar;47(1):65-75. doi: 10.1007/s10484-021-09528-w.
There is a continuing debate concerning "adjustments" to heart period variability [i.e., heart rate variability (HRV)] for the heart period [i.e., increases inter-beat-intervals (IBI)]. To date, such arguments have not seriously considered the impact a demographic variable, such as gender, can have on the association between HRV and the heart period. A prior meta-analysis showed women to have greater HRV compared to men despite having shorter IBI and higher heart rate (HR). Thus, it is plausible that men and women differ in the association between HRV and HR/IBI. Thus, the present study investigates the potential moderating effect of gender on the association between HRV and indices of cardiac chronotropy, including both HR and IBI. Data from 633 participants (339 women) were available for analysis. Cardiac measures were assessed during a 5-min baseline-resting period. HRV measures included the standard deviation of inter-beat-intervals, root mean square of successive differences, and autoregressive high frequency power. Moderation analyses showed gender significantly moderated the association between all HRV variables and both HR and IBI (each p < 0.05). However, results were not consistent when using recently recommended HRV variables "adjusted" for IBI. Overall, the current investigation provides data illustrating a differential association between HRV and the heart period based on gender. Substantial neurophysiological evidence support the current findings; women show greater sensitivity to acetylcholine compared to men. If women show greater sensitivity to acetylcholine, and acetylcholine increases HRV and the heart period, then the association between HRV and the heart period indeed should be stronger in women compared to men. Taken together, these data suggest that routine "adjustments" to HRV for the heart period are unjustified and problematic at best. As it relates to the application of future HRV research, it is imperative that researchers continue to consider the potential impact of gender.
关于心率变异性（HRV）的“调整”，即心率（HR）的间期（IBI）增加，一直存在争议。迄今为止，这些争论并没有认真考虑人口统计学变量（如性别）对 HRV 和 HR 之间关联的影响。先前的荟萃分析表明，尽管女性的 IBI 更短，心率（HR）更高，但女性的 HRV 比男性更大。因此，男性和女性的 HRV 与 HR/IBI 之间的关联可能存在差异。因此，本研究调查了性别对 HRV 与心脏变时性指数（包括 HR 和 IBI）之间关联的潜在调节作用。分析了 633 名参与者（339 名女性）的数据。在 5 分钟的基础休息期内评估心脏指标。HRV 测量包括间期标准差、连续差异均方根和自回归高频功率。调节分析显示，性别显著调节了所有 HRV 变量与 HR 和 IBI 之间的关联（每项 p < 0.05）。然而，当使用最近推荐的“调整”IBI 的 HRV 变量时，结果并不一致。总体而言，目前的研究提供了数据，说明基于性别的 HRV 和 HR 间期之间存在不同的关联。大量神经生理学证据支持当前的发现；与男性相比，女性对乙酰胆碱的敏感性更高。如果女性对乙酰胆碱的敏感性更高，而乙酰胆碱增加 HRV 和 HR 间期，那么与 HRV 和 HR 间期之间的关联在女性中确实应该比男性更强。综上所述，这些数据表明，对 HR 间期进行 HRV 的常规“调整”是不合理的，甚至是有问题的。就未来 HRV 研究的应用而言，研究人员必须继续考虑性别的潜在影响。
