Objective
Depression is associated with an increased risk of cardiac events. This might partly be due to altered autonomic neural control of the cardiovascuar system. Heart rate recovery (HRR) after exercise is a marker of parasympathetic activity and attenuation of this parameter has been shown to be associated with increased cardiac mortality. A delayed recovery of systolic blood pressure (SBP) after exercise might reflect sympathetic hyperactivity. The analysis of variations in heart rate has also been used to determine the balance between sympathetic and vagal nerve activities in the heart. Our objective was to determine HRR, the SBP response to exercise and heart rate variability (HRV) in patients with depression.
Methods
The study population consisted of 76 patients with depression and 75 healthy controls who were matched with respect to age, sex and physical activity. Heart rate recovery was calculated as the difference between heart rate at peak exercise and heart rate at the relevant minute of recovery. Blood pressure recovery indexes were determined by dividing the systolic blood pressure at 2 and 3 min in recovery to the systolic blood pressure at peak exercise.