Division of Psychiatry, University College London, 149 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 7NF, UK.
Camden & Islington NHS Foundation Trust, 4 St Pancras Way, London NW1 0PE, UK.
Ageing Res Rev. 2022 Jan;73:101539. doi: 10.1016/j.arr.2021.101539. Epub 2021 Dec 6.
Neurodegenerative diseases, which frequently present with neuropsychiatric symptoms related to prefrontal cortical dysfunction, can alter the integrity of the neural networks involved in central autonomic nervous system regulation, which is proposed to be indexed by heart rate variability (HRV). We systematically reviewed the characteristics, methodology and outcomes of 27 studies of HRV in relation to measures of cognition and behavior in neurodegenerative conditions, and assessed the strength of this relationship, cross-sectionally, across 18 studies. A significant, moderate effect was observed (r = 0.25), such that higher HRV was related to better cognitive and behavioral scores, which was not influenced by mean age or cognitive status. There was no evidence of small-study effects but we could not rule out publication bias, and other factors may have contributed to heterogeneity between studies. Our findings support the proposal that HRV may be a marker of self-regulatory processes in neurodegenerative conditions, and further research on this association is needed in relation to neuropsychiatric symptoms and alongside neuroimaging methods.
神经退行性疾病常伴有与前额叶皮层功能障碍相关的神经精神症状，可改变涉及中枢自主神经系统调节的神经网络的完整性，而这被认为可以通过心率变异性（HRV）来衡量。我们系统地回顾了 27 项与神经退行性疾病认知和行为测量相关的 HRV 特征、方法和结果研究，并评估了 18 项研究中这种关系的强度。观察到显著的中等效应（r=0.25），即 HRV 越高与更好的认知和行为评分相关，而平均年龄或认知状态对其没有影响。虽然没有小研究效应的证据，但我们不能排除发表偏倚，其他因素也可能导致研究之间存在异质性。我们的研究结果支持这样一种观点，即 HRV 可能是神经退行性疾病中自我调节过程的一个标志物，需要进一步研究这种相关性与神经精神症状以及神经影像学方法的关系。
