ArticlePsychosomatic medicine
The Longitudinal Association of Reduced Vagal Tone With Burnout.
Article in Psychosomatic medicine. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Biological Markers of Burnout Severity: A Systematic Review.Stress and health : journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress · 2026Pooled it
- Associations between burnout symptoms and social behaviour: exploring the role of acute stress and vagal function.BMC public health · 2022Trial
- Workplace AI Usage, Intrinsic Motivation, and Job Burnout: Evidence from a Longitudinal Study.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- A Familiar Working Environment Influences Surgeon's Stress in the Operating Room: A Multi-Specialty Prospective Cohort Study.Annals of surgery · 2026Article
- Heart rate variability and burnout risk among healthy employees in jobs involving interaction with others.Frontiers in physiology · 2026Article
- Mental and Somatic Ill-Health as Long-Term Predictors of the Burnout Symptoms Cognitive Weariness, Exhaustion, and Lack of Vitality in a General Adult Population.Stress and health : journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress · 2025Article
- Association Between Phasic Vagal-Mediated Heart Rate Variability and Momentary Exhaustion in Daily Life.Stress and health : journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress · 2025Article
- Burnout Syndrome in forensic medicine and its association with vicarious trauma, posttraumatic stress syndrome and occupational stress.International journal of legal medicine · 2025Review
- Climbing the ladder: a ranking approach to burnout prediction.Frontiers in digital health · 2025Article
- A comparison between veterinary small animal general practitioners and emergency practitioners in Australia. Part 2: client-related, work-related, and personal burnout.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2024Article
- Impact of autonomic regulation on burnout and performance in thoracic surgery residents.JTCVS open · 2022Article
- Determining the direction of prediction of the association between parasympathetic dysregulation and exhaustion symptoms.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Trends in Daily Heart Rate Variability Fluctuations Are Associated with Longitudinal Changes in Stress and Somatisation in Police Officers.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Mindfulness-Based Student Training Improves Vascular Variability Associated With Sustained Reductions in Physiological Stress Response.Frontiers in public health · 2022Article
- Burnout and Cardiovascular Risk in Healthcare Professionals During the COVID-19 Pandemic.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
- High Job Burnout Predicts Low Heart Rate Variability in the Working Population after a First Episode of Acute Coronary Syndrome.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectivePrevious research indicates a link between burnout symptoms and reduced vagally mediated heart rate variability (HRV); however, the directionality of this relationship is still largely unknown. The objective of the present study was to examine the longitudinal relationship between HRV and burnout symptoms for 1 year, with a special focus on the emotional exhaustion (EE) burnout subdimension, which remains inadequately distinguished from overlapping with depressive symptoms.
methodsHere we present HRV and behavioral data from 167 individuals (mean [SD] age = 43.43 [11.78] years; 30.5% male) who attended two biomarker samplings (T1 and T2) of the Dresden Burnout Study approximately 12 months apart.
resultsIn hierarchical linear regression analyses, T1 HRV significantly inversely predicted T2 overall burnout symptoms (β = -.16; p = .03) and EE (β = -.23; p = .02), adjusting for age, sex, body mass index, adverse health behaviors, and depressive symptoms. Importantly, only high EE at T1 (β = -.22; p = .04), and not the T1 Maslach Burnout Inventor total score, predicted reductions in HRV from T1 to T2.
conclusionsWe report for the first time longitudinal evidence that HRV is associated with changes in burnout symptoms, independently of depressive symptoms. Results suggest vagal dysfunction being predictive and specific for burnout symptoms, making HRV a promising starting point for the explanation of biophysiological mechanisms underlying burnout symptoms and cardiovascular diseases. The finding of only EE at T1 being predictive for changes in HRV underscores the importance of exhaustion for modulations in autonomic regulation.
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