ArticleBMC psychology2016
Worry is associated with robust reductions in heart rate variability: a transdiagnostic study of anxiety psychopathology.
Article in BMC psychology, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 38 papers.
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Who cites it
38 citing papers in PubMed, 98 citations in OpenAlex.
- Heart Meets Brain: Insights into Neurocardiac Pathophysiology.Pathophysiology : the official journal of the International Society for Pathophysiology · 2026Review
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- Sleep dependent autonomic correlates of affect and arousal in younger and older adults.Sleep advances : a journal of the Sleep Research Society · 2026Article
- The relationship between heart rate variability and baseline state anxiety during stress and recovery.BMC psychology · 2025Article
- How Much Does Stress Cost? A Case-Control Study on Vagally Mediated Heart Rate Variability Responses in Anxious and Non-Anxious Individuals During a Cognitive Task.Medical sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Correlation of physiological stress as measured by heart rate and blood pressure variability and self-reported anxiety.Research square · 2025Article
- Assessing the viability of heart rate variability as an objective and comprehensive indicator of chronic non-specific neck pain.PloS one · 2025Article
- Knowledge Domain and Emerging Trends in Heart Failure and Anxiety Comorbidity: A Scientometric Analysis.Journal of multidisciplinary healthcare · 2025Article
- Resting vagal tone, alpha amylase and cortisol levels in women with eating disorders before and after psychotherapy.PloS one · 2025Article
- Acute effects of a single functional neurology session on autonomic modulation in a patient with mild depression: a case report.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2025Article
- Feasibility of Early Assessment for Psychological Distress: HRV-Based Evaluation Using IR-UWB Radar.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Associations of luteal phase changes in vagally mediated heart rate variability with premenstrual emotional changes.BMC women's health · 2024Observational
- Your blush gives you away: detecting hidden mental states with remote photoplethysmography and thermal imaging.PeerJ. Computer science · 2024Article
- Does anxiety explain why math-anxious people underperform in math?NPJ science of learning · 2023Article
- Validity and reliability of short-term heart-rate variability from disposable electrocardiography leads.Health science reports · 2023Article
- Cardioautonomic lability assessed by heart rate variability changes in Royal Canadian Mounted Police cadets during the cadet training program.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Heart Rate Variability: A Measure of Cardiovascular Health and Possible Therapeutic Target in Dysautonomic Mental and Neurological Disorders.Applied psychophysiology and biofeedback · 2022Review
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- High-frequency variability in heart rate is related to COVID-19-associated worries six years later.Biological psychology · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIndividuals with anxiety disorders display reduced resting-state heart rate variability (HRV), although findings have been contradictory and the role of specific symptoms has been less clear. It is possible that HRV reductions may transcend diagnostic categories, consistent with dimensional-trait models of psychopathology. Here we investigated whether anxiety disorders or symptoms of anxiety, stress, worry and depression are more strongly associated with resting-state HRV.
methodsResting-state HRV was calculated in participants with clinical anxiety (n = 25) and healthy controls (n = 58). Symptom severity measures of worry, anxiety, stress, and depression were also collected from participants, regardless of diagnosis.
resultsParticipants who fulfilled DSM-IV criteria for an anxiety disorder displayed diminished HRV, a difference at trend level significance (p = .1, Hedges' g = -.37, BF10 = .84). High worriers (Total n = 41; n = 22 diagnosed with an anxiety disorder and n = 19 not meeting criteria for any psychopathology) displayed a robust reduction in resting state HRV relative to low worriers (p = .001, Hedges' g = -.75, BF10 = 28.16).
conclusionsThe specific symptom of worry - not the diagnosis of an anxiety disorder - was associated with the most robust reductions in HRV, indicating that HRV may provide a transdiagnostic biomarker of worry. These results enhance understanding of the relationship between the cardiac autonomic nervous system and anxiety psychopathology, providing support for dimensional-trait models consistent with the Research Domain Criteria framework.
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