BioPsychoSocial Medicine

Table 1 Patients with MDD using TCA and SSRI medication where Cohen's d reflects the difference between treatment and contrast condition.

From: Effects of antidepressant treatment on heart rate variability in major depression: A quantitative review

Measure	Heart Rate	SDNN	SDANN	RMSSD	LF	LnHF	HF	LF/HF	CV	pNN50
Units	bpm	ms	ms	ms²	ms²	ms²	ms²	ratio	ratio	percent
TCAs – short (2–10 minute) supine
Mean Baseline Value	75.91	32.28		21.60		5.80	0.51		4.07
Mean Percent Change	20.8%	-62.9%		-67.3%		-35.5%	-79.4%		-55.2%
Number of Comparisons	8	8		6		2	4		8
Mean Effect Size	4.83	-2.43		-3.34		-4.54	-0.96		-5.52
t	7.53*	9.32*		7.79*		2.40	5.85*		4.17*
p	0.00	0.00		0.00		0.25	0.01		0.00
TCAs 24 hour ambulatory
Mean Baseline Value	82.60	115.85	106.7	31.00						10.00
Mean Percent Change	7.5%	-16.1%	-3.7%	-12.9%						-30.0%
Number of Comparisons	1	2	2	1						1
Mean Effect Size	1.98	-0.20	0.31	-2.71						-3.34
t		0.10	0.10
p		0.94	0.94
SSRIs – short (2–10 minute) supine
Mean Baseline Value	76.00	28.67	26.375	26.38		5.60	0.507		3.60
Mean Percent Change	-2.0%	1.0%		-2.4%		-1.4%	-14.8%		-1.9%
Number of Comparisons	4	3		4		1	1		3
Mean Effect Size	-0.63	0.06		1.42		-0.15	-0.26		-0.26
t	6.33*	3.46**		0.54					2.71
p	0.01	0.07		0.63					0.11
SSRIs 24 hour ambulatory
Mean Baseline Value	81.30	30.08	118.1	30.00						9.00
Mean Percent Change	-0.5%	1.7%	0.0%	16.7%						33.3%
Number of Comparisons	1	2	2	1						1
Mean Effect Size	-0.10	0.51	0.43	1.76						1.76
t		0.30	0.41
p		0.82	0.75

Two studies used 24 hour monitoring. Only studies have been included where effects of specific drugs could be evaluated. Negative values indicate decreases in the parameter with treatment, positive values indicate increases. (* indicates p < .05, ** indicates p < .10)

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ISSN: 1751-0759

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