Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31849514›Full record

ArticleJournal of pain research2019

Targeting the Autonomic Nervous System Balance in Patients with Chronic Low Back Pain Using Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation: A Randomized, Crossover, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Pilot Study.

Julianna H Prim, Sangtae Ahn, Maria I Davila, Morgan L Alexander, Karen L McCulloch, Flavio Fröhlich

Registry-linked trialOpen access · goldAbstract readCase Reports
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of pain research, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03243084 (Effect of Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation in Chronic Low Back Pain), which is not on this map. Cited by 15 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
15citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
1.4field-weighted citation impact, top 19% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

NCT03243084 nacompletednot on this map

Effect of Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation in Chronic Low Back Pain: A Pilot Study

TypeinterventionalSponsorUniversity of North Carolina, Chapel HillRan2017 to 2018Enrolled21ConditionsChronic Low Back PainArmsXCSITE100 Stimulator Sham, XCSITE100 Stimulator tACS
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

15 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 26 citations in OpenAlex.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Julianna H Prim *Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
Sangtae Ahn *Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
Maria I DavilaDepartment of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
Morgan L AlexanderDepartment of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
Karen L McCulloch *Department of Allied Health Sciences, Human Movement Science Curriculum, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
Flavio Fröhlich *Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-3724-5621
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill · US

Funding

Re-Entry Supplement: Investigation of Oral Microbial Enzymes for the Detection and Treatment of Periodontal DiseaseUL1TR002489 · NCATS · UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL · PI BUSE, JOHN BERNARD, SHAHEEN, NICHOLAS J · 2018 to 2022
$48.6M
Rational Optimization of tACS for Targeting Thalamo-Cortical OscillationsR01MH111889 · NIMH · UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL · PI FROHLICH, FLAVIO · 2016 to 2019
$2.4M
Targeting Cortical Dynamics: Rational Design of Individualized Brain StimulationR01MH101547 · NIMH · UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL · PI FROHLICH, FLAVIO · 2013 to 2017
$2.2M
NCATS NIH HHS UL1 TR002489NIMH NIH HHS R01 MH101547NIMH NIH HHS R01 MH111889
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundChronic low back pain (CLBP) is characterized by an alteration in pain processing by the central nervous system that may affect autonomic nervous system (ANS) balance. Heart rate variability (HRV) reflects the balance of parasympathetic and sympathetic ANS activation. In particular, respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) solely reflects parasympathetic input and is reduced in CLBP patients. Yet, it remains unknown if non-invasive brain stimulation can alter ANS balance in CLBP patients.

objectiveTo evaluate if non-invasive brain stimulation modulates the ANS, we analyzed HRV metrics collected in a previously published study of transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) for the modulation of CLBP through enhancing alpha oscillations. We hypothesized that tACS would increase RSA.

methodsA randomized, crossover, double-blind, sham-controlled pilot study was conducted to investigate the effects of 10Hz-tACS on metrics of ANS balance calculated from electrocardiogram (ECG). ECG data were collected for 2 mins before and after 40 mins of 10Hz-tACS or sham stimulation.

resultsThere were no significant changes in RSA or other frequency-domain HRV components from 10Hz-tACS. However, exploratory time-domain HRV analyses revealed a significant increase in the standard deviation of normal intervals between R-peaks (SDNN), a measure of ANS balance, for 10Hz-tACS relative to sham.

conclusionAlthough tACS did not significantly increase RSA, we found in an exploratory analysis that tACS modulated an integrated HRV measure of both ANS branches. These findings support the further study of how the ANS and alpha oscillations interact and are modulated by tACS. CLINICALTRIALSGOV: Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation in Back Pain - Pilot Study, NCT03243084.

Indexed as

autonomic nervous systemheart rate variabilitylow back paintranscranial alternating current stimulation

Identifiers

PMID31849514
PMCPMC6912089
OpenAlexW2996238571

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

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.