Skip to main content
eScholarship
Open Access Publications from the University of California

UC Berkeley

UC Berkeley Previously Published Works bannerUC Berkeley

Cardiac variability in PD and PTSD

Abstract

The panic disorder (PD) literature provides evidence for both physiologic rigidity and instability as pathognomonic features of this disorder. This ambiguity may be a result of viewing PD at differential levels of temporal analysis. We assessed cardiac variability across three levels of temporal scale in PD patients, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) patients, and healthy controls. Sixteen healthy controls, 14 PD patients, 23 PTSD patients, and 16 PTSD + PD patients presented for a polysomnogram. Differences were assessed in respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), autoregressive stability of heart rate (HR), and the number of nonspecific accelerations in HR over the night. No differences in RSA were found between groups; however, PD patients exhibited significantly lower autoregressive HR stability, and all patients had significantly more HR accelerations than controls. These data reinforce prior findings demonstrating physiologic instability in PD and indicate that prior equivocalities regarding physiologic variability in PD may be due to limited temporal scaling of measurements.

Many UC-authored scholarly publications are freely available on this site because of the UC's open access policies. Let us know how this access is important for you.

Main Content
For improved accessibility of PDF content, download the file to your device.
Current View