SynthesisPsychosomatic medicine2015
Ethnic differences in resting heart rate variability: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Psychosomatic medicine, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 92 papers, 4 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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
92 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 173 citations in OpenAlex.
- Publication guidelines for human heart rate and heart rate variability studies in psychophysiology-Part 1: Physiological underpinnings and foundations of measurement.Psychophysiology · 2024Guideline
- Interventions to Reduce Hospital Readmissions in Older African Americans: A Systematic Review of Studies Including African American Patients.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2023Pooled it
- A Systematic Review of Physical Health Consequences and Acculturation Stress Among Latinx Individuals in the United States.Biological research for nursing · 2021Pooled it
- Genetic loci associated with heart rate variability and their effects on cardiac disease risk.Nature communications · 2017Pooled it
- Effects of cortisol administration on heart rate variability and functional connectivity across women with different depression histories.Behavioural brain research · 2024Trial
- Burden and Heart Rate Variability in Bipolar Disorder Family Caregivers.Western journal of nursing research · 2022Trial
- Stereotype threat, trait perseveration, and vagal activity: evidence for mechanisms underpinning health disparities in Black Americans.Ethnicity & health · 2019Trial
- Heart Rate Variability and Cardiac Autonomic Dysfunction: Prevalence, Risk Factors, and Relationship to Arterial Stiffness in the Treatment Options for Type 2 Diabetes in Adolescents and Youth (TODAY) Study.Diabetes care · 2019 · on this mapTrial
- Heart rate variability as a biomarker of anxious depression response to antidepressant medication.Depression and anxiety · 2019Trial
- Heart rate variability and emotion regulation: Multiethnic differences in reappraisal and suppression.Emotion (Washington, D.C.) · 2026Article
- Guidelines for rigor and reproducibility of heart rate variability within human cardiovascular research.American journal of physiology. Heart and circulatory physiology · 2026Review
- The Relationship Between Heart Rate Variability and Interoception in Anorexia Nervosa Spectrum Disorders.The International journal of eating disorders · 2026Article
- The association between concussion and autonomic nervous system responses to a cognitive stressor.The Clinical neuropsychologist · 2026Article
- Racial Discrimination-Related Interoceptive Network Disruptions: A Pathway to Disconnection.Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging · 2026Article
- Hypoxic burden as a cause of cardiovascular morbidity in childhood obstructive sleep apnea.Pediatric research · 2026Article
- Personalizing the Pressure Reactivity Index for Quantifying Cerebral Autoregulation in Neurocritical Care.IEEE transactions on bio-medical engineering · 2025Article
- Implementation Framework to Increase Patient Adherence in Clinical Trials Utilizing Wearable Devices.Research square · 2025Article
- Rethinking Resting Heart Rate Variability: No Evidence of Association With Self-Regulation and Psychopathology in a Cross-Sectional Study Among Adolescents in Colombia, Nepal, and South Africa.Psychophysiology · 2025Article
- Assessing Minority Stress and Physiological Response Through Ecological Momentary Assessment and Sensors: Protocol for a Feasibility and Acceptability of the Stress and Heart Pilot Study.JMIR formative research · 2025Article
- Autonomic biosignals, seizure detection, and forecasting.Epilepsia · 2025Review
32 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
8 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundEthnic disparities in cardiovascular morbidity and mortality are widely documented in the literature. Recently, research has shown that decreased parasympathetic cardiac modulation is associated with the established and emerging risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and stroke. In consideration of the disproportionate CVD risk and disease profile of African Americans (AAs), it is plausible that decreased cardiac parasympathetic functioning may partially explain these disparities. In the present systematic review and meta-analysis, we assess the available evidence for a reliable ethnic difference in tonic vagally mediated heart rate variability (HRV), an indicator of parasympathetic cardiac modulation.
methodsA systematic literature search was conducted yielding studies comparing tonic HRV in AAs and European Americans. Adjusted standardized effect sizes (Hedges g) were calculated using a mixed-effects model, with restricted maximum likelihood estimation for 17 studies containing appropriate measures of vagally mediated HRV.
resultsMeta-analysis results suggest that AAs have greater HRV than do European Americans (Hedges g = 0.93, 95% confidence interval = 0.25-1.62), even after consideration of several covariates including health status, medication use, and subgroup stratification by sex and age.
conclusionsThese findings suggest that decreased vagally mediated HRV is not likely to account for the persistent health disparities experienced by AAs with respect to CVD risk and burden. These disparities underscore the need for continued research addressing socioethnic cardiovascular differences and the biobehavioral mechanisms involved.
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.