Autonomic dysregulation in panic disorder and in post-traumatic stress disorder: application of power spectrum analysis of heart rate variability at rest and in response to recollection of trauma or panic attacks

Abstract

Power spectral analysis (PSA) of heart rate variability (HRV) offers reliable assessment of cardiovascular autonomic responses, providing a ‘window’ onto the interaction of peripheral sympathetic and parasympathetic tone. Alterations in HRV are associated with various physiological and pathophysiological processes, and may contribute to morbidity and mortality. Previous studies of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) found lower resting HRV in patients compared to controls, suggesting increased sympathetic and decreased parasympathetic tone. This article describes the analysis of HRV at rest and after psychological stress in panic disorder (PD) patients, in an enlarged sample of PTSD patients, and in healthy control subjects. Standardized heart rate (HR) analysis was carried out in 14 PTSD patients, 11 PD patients and 25 matched controls. ECG recordings were made while subjects were resting (‘rest 1’), while recalling the trauma implicated in PTSD, or the circumstances of a severe panic attack, as appropriate (‘recall’), and again while resting (‘rest 2’). Controls were asked to recall a stressful life event during recall. While both patient groups had elevated HR and low frequency (LF) components of HRV at baseline (suggesting increased sympathetic activity), PTSD patients, unlike PD patients and controls, failed to respond to the recall stress with increases in HR and LF. HRV analysis demonstrates significant differences in autonomic regulation of PTSD and PD patients compared to each other and to control subjects. HRV analysis may augment biochemical studies of peripheral measures in these disorders.