Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34472494›Full record

ArticleNeural regeneration research2022

Social skills and psychopathology are associated with autonomic function in children: a cross-sectional observational study.

Elisa Cainelli, Luca Vedovelli, Daniele Bottigliengo, Dario Boschiero, Agnese Suppiej

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Neural regeneration research, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
8citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
1.3field-weighted citation impact, top 18% 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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 7 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Effects of Maternal Heartbeat Exposure on Neonatal Autonomic Regulation.Pathophysiology : the official journal of the International Society for Pathophysiology · 2026
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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

5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Elisa CainelliChild Neurology and Clinical Neurophysiology, University Hospital of Padova; Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
Luca VedovelliUnit of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Public Health, Department of Cardiac, Thoracic, Vascular Sciences, and Public Health, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
Daniele BottigliengoUnit of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Public Health, Department of Cardiac, Thoracic, Vascular Sciences, and Public Health, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
Dario BoschieroBioTekna Biomedical Technologies, Marcon (VE), Italy.
Agnese SuppiejChild Neurology and Clinical Neurophysiology, University Hospital of Padova, Padova; Department of Medical Sciences, Pediatric Section, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy.
University of Padua · ITUniversity of Ferrara · IT

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

In recent years, the increase of psychopathological disorders in the population has become a health emergency, leading to a great effort to understand psychological vulnerability mechanisms. In this scenario, the role of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) has become increasingly important. This study investigated the association between ANS, social skills, and psychopathological functioning in children. As an ANS status proxy, we measured heart rate variability (HRV). Infants admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit of the University Hospital of Padova because of preterm birth or neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy were sequentially recruited from January 2011 to June 2013 and followed long-term up to school age in this cross-sectional observational study. We recorded 5 minutes of HRV immediately before measuring performance in social abilities tasks (affect recognition and theory of mind, NEPSY-II) in 50 children (mean age 7.4 ± 1.4 years) with and without risk factors for developing neuropsychiatric disorders due to pre-/perinatal insults without major sequelae. Children also completed extensive cognitive, neuropsychological, and psychosocial assessment. Parents were assessed with psychopathological interviews and a questionnaire (CBCL 6-18). Analysis in a robust Bayesian framework was used to unearth dependencies between HRV, social skills, and psychopathological functioning. Social task scores were associated with HRV components, with high frequency the most consistent. HRV bands were also associated with the psychopathological questionnaire. Only normalized HRV high frequency was able to distinguish impaired children in the affect recognition task. Our data suggest that ANS may be implicated in social cognition both in typical and atypical developmental conditions and that HRV has cross-disease sensitivity. We suggest that HRV parameters may reflect a neurobiological vulnerability to psychopathology. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the University Hospital of Padova (Comitato Etico per la Sperimentazione, Azienda Opedaliera di Padova, approval No. 1693P).

Indexed as

affect recognitionautonomic nervous systemchildrenhypoxic-ischemic encephalopathyimpairmentneonatalprematuritypsychopathologyrecoverytheory of mind

Identifiers

PMID34472494
PMCPMC8530110
OpenAlexW3197694001

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-SA
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.