ReviewFrontiers in psychology2014
A healthy heart is not a metronome: an integrative review of the heart's anatomy and heart rate variability.
Review in Frontiers in psychology, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 4 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 821 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Impact of Vitamin D3 Administration on Cardiac Autonomic Tone in Asthma COPD Overlap(ACO) Patients: A Blinded Randomized Control Trial
ArrhythmiaS in Pulmonary arterIal hypeRtEnsion and Right Heart Failure Assessed by Continuous Long-term Cardiac Monitoring
Application of Diaphragmatic Breathing in Patients With Disorders of Gut-brain Interaction: Impact on Gastrointestinal and Psychological Symptoms as Well as Autonomic Nervous System
Resistant Hypertension An Open, Complicated ("Cum Plicare") or Complex ("Cum Plexus")
Who cites it
821 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Effects of controlled, acute exposure to air pollutants on heart rate variability in humans: a meta-regression and methodological recommendations.BMC public health · 2026Pooled it
- Wearable-Derived Heart Rate Variability Across the Menstrual Cycle, Hormonal Contraceptive Use, and Reproductive Life Stages in Females: A Living Systematic Review.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2026Pooled it
- Effects of mobilization or manipulation of the thoracic spine on autonomic nervous system markers in symptomatic and asymptomatic participants - a systematic review and meta-analysis.The Journal of manual & manipulative therapy · 2025Pooled it
- Is cardiac autonomic control affected in major depressive disorder? A systematic review of heart rate variability studies.Translational psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Heart Rate Variability and Heart Failure with Reduced Ejection Fraction: A Systematic Review of Literature.Current cardiology reviews · 2025Pooled it
- The effects of heart rate variability biofeedback on functional gastrointestinal disorders: a scoping review.Frontiers in physiology · 2025Pooled it
- Feasibility and Acceptability of Perioperative Application of Biofeedback-Based Virtual Reality vs Control for Pain and Anxiety in Children and Adolescents Undergoing Surgery: Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Trial
- Testing effects of paced breathing on plasma Aβ and brain perivascular spaces.International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology · 2026Trial
- Emotional intelligence training improves stress regulation and performance in high-stress occupations.Scientific reports · 2026Trial
- Synergistic effects of tDCS combined with aerobic exercise on pulmonary function and heart rate in sedentary young people.Scientific reports · 2025Trial
- Regular postexercise sauna bathing does not improve heart rate variability: A multi-arm randomized controlled trial.Physiological reports · 2025Trial
- Does heart rate variability predict and improve performance in pediatric CPR?-a simulation study.BMC emergency medicine · 2025Trial
- Stress and Anxiety Among Elite Volleyball Referees While Officiating.Journal of sports science & medicine · 2025Trial
- Pregnenolone effects on parasympathetic response to stress and alcohol cue provocation in treatment-seeking individuals with alcohol use disorder.Alcohol, clinical & experimental research · 2025Trial
- Changes in Negative Emotions Across Five Weeks of HRV Biofeedback Intervention were Mediated by Changes in Resting Heart Rate Variability.Applied psychophysiology and biofeedback · 2025Trial
- Psychophysiological effects of music on sadness in participants with and without depressive symptoms.BMC complementary medicine and therapies · 2025Trial
- Article
- Hair cortisol concentration and basal heart rate variability differentiate long COVID from depressive disorders in youth.Comprehensive psychoneuroendocrinology · 2026Article
- A primer on heart rate variability: use in neuroscience and psychiatry.NPP - digital psychiatry and neuroscience · 2026Review
- Characterizing short-term linear and nonlinear heart rate variability in typically developing children and adolescents.Physiological reports · 2026Article
761 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Heart rate variability (HRV), the change in the time intervals between adjacent heartbeats, is an emergent property of interdependent regulatory systems that operate on different time scales to adapt to challenges and achieve optimal performance. This article briefly reviews neural regulation of the heart, and its basic anatomy, the cardiac cycle, and the sinoatrial and atrioventricular pacemakers. The cardiovascular regulation center in the medulla integrates sensory information and input from higher brain centers, and afferent cardiovascular system inputs to adjust heart rate and blood pressure via sympathetic and parasympathetic efferent pathways. This article reviews sympathetic and parasympathetic influences on the heart, and examines the interpretation of HRV and the association between reduced HRV, risk of disease and mortality, and the loss of regulatory capacity. This article also discusses the intrinsic cardiac nervous system and the heart-brain connection, through which afferent information can influence activity in the subcortical and frontocortical areas, and motor cortex. It also considers new perspectives on the putative underlying physiological mechanisms and properties of the ultra-low-frequency (ULF), very-low-frequency (VLF), low-frequency (LF), and high-frequency (HF) bands. Additionally, it reviews the most common time and frequency domain measurements as well as standardized data collection protocols. In its final section, this article integrates Porges' polyvagal theory, Thayer and colleagues' neurovisceral integration model, Lehrer et al.'s resonance frequency model, and the Institute of HeartMath's coherence model. The authors conclude that a coherent heart is not a metronome because its rhythms are characterized by both complexity and stability over longer time scales. Future research should expand understanding of how the heart and its intrinsic nervous system influence the brain.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.