Heart Rate Variability and Cognitive Function: A Systematic Review

Forte, Giuseppe; Favieri, Francesca; Casagrande, Maria

doi:10.3389/fnins.2019.00710

Cited by 386 publications

(381 citation statements)

References 73 publications

(199 reference statements)

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“…In fact, the autonomic profile of hypertensive and normotensive people is different [106]. Autonomic dysfunctions, in particular, a sympathetic predominance, seem to be related to cognitive impairment and to worse performance in different cognitive domains (for a review see [113]).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Blood Pressure on Cognitive Performance: A Systematic Review

Forte

Pascalis

Favieri

et al. 2019

JCM

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104

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Background: High blood pressure has been associated with an increased risk of developing cognitive impairment. However, this relationship is unclear. This study aims to systematically review the effects of blood pressure on executive functioning, language, memory, attention and processing speed. Methods: The review process was conducted according to the PRISMA-Statement, using the PubMed, PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES and MEDLINE databases. Restrictions were made by selecting studies, which included one or more cognitive measures and reported blood pressure recordings. Studies that included participants with medical conditions or people diagnosed with dementia, psychiatric disorders, stroke and head trauma were excluded. The review allows selecting fifty studies that included 107,405 participants. The results were reported considering different cognitive domains separately: global cognitive functioning, attention, processing speed, executive functions, memory and visuospatial abilities. Results: Higher blood pressure appears to influence cognitive performance in different domains in the absence of dementia and severe cardiovascular diseases, such as strokes. This relationship seems to be independent of demographic factors (gender and education), medical co-morbidity (diabetes), and psychiatric disorders (depression). Furthermore, it presents different patterns considering ageing. In the elderly, a sort of "cardiovascular paradox" is highlighted, which allows considering higher blood pressure as a protective factor for cognitive functioning. Conclusions: The results underline that higher blood pressure is associated with a higher risk of cognitive decline in people without dementia or stroke. These findings highlight the need to introduce early management of blood pressure, even in the absence of clinical hypertension, to prevent the risk of a decline of cognitive functioning typically associated with ageing. into dementia. Given the progressive ageing of the world population, the challenge of modern science is highlighted the factors associated with the evolution of cognitive impairment.Cognitive impairment appears to be amplified by several factors as the habit of smoking cigarettes [13,14], chronic use of alcohol [15], poor eating habits and obesity [16,17], inadequate exercise [18], chronic stress [19] or by some pathologies such as diabetes mellitus [20] or depression [21]. Moreover, the risk of cognitive impairment appears to increase in the presence of cardiovascular disorders, such as high blood pressure, cardiomyopathies, arteriosclerosis, cerebral infarcts and strokes [22]. Many studies have shown an association between vascular ageing indices, such as stiffness of the arteries and dysfunction of small vessels and cognitive decline [23]. The exposure to high blood pressure would damage the cerebral microcirculation, causing cognitive impairments [23].The mechanisms that can explain the relationship between high blood pressure and cognitive impairment are not wholly known. Some studies have shown associations be...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Blood Pressure on Cognitive Performance: A Systematic Review

Forte

Pascalis

Favieri

et al. 2019

JCM

Self Cite

104

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…A future study could consider anxiety and arousal measures to support the findings from this study and the idea that hypertensive individuals could express their emotions through the physiological components. For example, it could be useful to consider the Heart Rate Variability measure that could be given more information about physiological activation (e.g., Forte et al, 2019).…”

Section: J O U R N a L P R E -P R O O Fmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alexithymia: A facet of uncontrolled hypertension

Casagrande

Mingarelli

Guarino

et al. 2019

International Journal of Psychophysiology

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This is a PDF file of an article that has undergone enhancements after acceptance, such as the addition of a cover page and metadata, and formatting for readability, but it is not yet the definitive version of record. This version will undergo additional copyediting, typesetting and review before it is published in its final form, but we are providing this version to give early visibility of the article. Please note that, during the production process, errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.

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“…Hillebrand et al (2013) reported that healthy subjects with diminished resting HRV have a 32-45% increased risk to suffer from a first cardiovascular event [11]. Furthermore, HRV is thought to be associated with cognitive performance and emotional well-being (see reviews [12,13]). Whether these correlational associations describe HRV as a consequence of central regulatory processes or as a prerequisite for effective regulation is still unclear [14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The influence of heart rate variability biofeedback on cardiac regulation and functional brain connectivity

Schumann

Cruz

Köhler

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Background Heart rate variability (HRV) biofeedback has beneficial influence on perceived stress and emotion regulation. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effect of an HRV-biofeedback intervention on resting functional brain connectivity in healthy subjects. Methods The 8-week HRV biofeedback training was carried out in five sessions per week using a mobile app. A control group played jump‘n’run games instead of the training. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was conducted before and after the intervention in both groups. To compute resting state functional connectivity (RSFC), we defined regions of interest in the ventral medial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) and a total of 260 independent anatomical regions for network-based analysis. Additionally, we estimated co-variations of dynamic functional connectivity of the VMPFC and temporal changes of HRV during the resting state recording in all participants before the intervention. Results Temporal changes of HRV co-varied with dynamic changes of prefrontal connectivity, especially to the middle cingulate cortex, left anterior insula, right amygdala, supplementary motor area, dorsal and ventral lateral prefrontal regions. The biofeedback group showed a drop in heart rate by 5.5 beats/min and an increased HRV by 33% after the intervention. Functional connectivity of the VMPFC increased mainly to the right anterior insula, the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex after biofeedback intervention when compared to changes in the control group. Network-based statistic showed that biofeedback had an influence on a broad functional network of brain regions. Conclusion Our results demonstrate that increased vagal modulation induced by HRV-biofeedback is accompanied by changes in functional brain connectivity during resting state.

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Heart Rate Variability and Cognitive Function: A Systematic Review

Cited by 386 publications

References 73 publications

Effects of Blood Pressure on Cognitive Performance: A Systematic Review

Effects of Blood Pressure on Cognitive Performance: A Systematic Review

Alexithymia: A facet of uncontrolled hypertension

The influence of heart rate variability biofeedback on cardiac regulation and functional brain connectivity

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