Smoking's effects on respiratory sinus arrhythmia in adolescent smokers

Abstract

Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) has emerged as an indicator of how well the body maintains homeostasis and flexibly responds to environmental demands. Previous research has shown that smoking has both acute and chronic effects on RSA in adults. More recent work has focused on adolescent smokers because the natural decrease in RSA over the lifespan might be hastened by smoking at an early age. The goal of the current study, then, was to examine the acute effects of smoking on RSA and mean heart rate (HR) in a group of adolescent smokers. Participants completed two experimental sessions separated by 6-10 weeks, during which resting electrocardiogram (EKG) data were collected before and after smoking or not smoking a single cigarette ad libitum. Results indicate that smoking significantly decreased resting RSA and increased mean HR. In addition, those who smoked their first cigarette earlier in life (i.e., before age 8 or 10) evidenced a greater decrease in RSA during their smoking session relative to those who tried smoking after age 10. Importantly, these findings are largely consistent with the adult literature and suggest that smoking has acute effects on both RSA and HR in adolescence.

Adolescent’s respiratory sinus arrhythmia is associated with smoking rate five years later

“…Additionally, acute nicotine use has been shown to decrease RSA in adults (Ashare et al, 2012; Hayano et al, 1990; Karakaya et al, 2007). Less work has been conducted with adolescents; however, our group found a similar pattern of decreased RSA in adolescents after smoking a single cigarette in the same sample as the current study (Conrad, Gorka, & Kassel, 2015). In addition, this effect was moderated by age of initiated cigarette use, such that individuals who had initiated smoking at an earlier age demonstrated a greater decrease in RSA after smoking (Conrad et al, 2015).…”

“…Participants’ RSA was recorded before and after smoking. A more detailed description of laboratory procedures are published elsewhere (Conrad et al, 2015; Veilleux, Conrad, & Kassel, 2013). …”

“…The goal of the current study was to extend our previous finding that smoking has acute effects on RSA in adolescents (Conrad et al, 2015) to now examine if resting RSA and the acute effects of smoking on RSA is associated with smoking behavior five years later among adolescents at high risk for smoking escalation and nicotine dependence. Importantly, RSA was captured in this study during adolescence, when individuals had a limited history of cigarette use.…”

The effects of cigarette smoking on ventricular repolarization in adolescents

“…They also described that nicotine had biphasic effects on inducible AT/AF in young rats, but suppressed them in the old rats by causing high degrees of interatrial conduction block. In a recent clinical study, Conrad et al, ( 12 ) also reported that smoking significantly decreased resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia and increased mean heart rate in adolescents that are the indicators of how well the body maintains homeostasis as a response to environmental demands.…”

Impact of Acute and Chronic Cannabis Use on Stress Response Regulation: Challenging the Belief That Cannabis Is an Effective Method for Coping

“…While the research around adverse effects of cannabis has not been fully investigated, it is worth noting here that the effects of cannabis that interrupt observed blunted stress responses with cannabis uses as a potential advantage (e.g., Cuttler et al, 2017;DeAngelis and al'Absi, 2020). This side of the discussion is based on findings suggesting that cannabis or THC is associated with reduced responses to affective and threatening stimuli (Phan et al, 2008;Gruber et al, 2009;Cornelius et al, 2010;Gorka et al, 2014;Conrad et al, 2015;Childs et al, 2017;Crane and Phan, 2021). In the context of acute administration, these effects seem to be dose-specific and more likely to occur with lower doses of THC and to subjective rather than physiological response to stress (Childs et al, 2017).…”