SynthesisClinical autonomic research : official journal of the Clinical Autonomic Research Society2023
A systematic review of the effects of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation on baroreflex sensitivity and heart rate variability in healthy subjects.
Synthesis in Clinical autonomic research : official journal of the Clinical Autonomic Research Society, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
26 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation may improve cognitive deficits in neuropsychiatric diseases-a systematic review.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2026Pooled it
- The effects of transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation on romantic couples' physiology and behavior during conflict.Anxiety, stress, and coping · 2026Trial
- Trial
- Efficacy and EEG-ECG mechanisms of taVNS combined with TEAS for negative symptoms of schizophrenia: a protocol for a 2 × 2 factorial randomized controlled trial.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2026Article
- Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation Combined with Physical Therapy for Individuals with Parkinson's Disease: A Pilot Randomized Sham-Controlled Trial.Neurology international · 2026Article
- Participant-centered tolerability of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation: insights from two crossover studies.Bioelectronic medicine · 2026Article
- A Review of Vagus Nerve Stimulation for Disease: Comprehensive Theory and Evidence for Mechanisms of Action.Comprehensive physiology · 2026Review
- Sepsis-associated gastrointestinal dysfunction: neuroimmune mechanisms, gut-brain axis disruption, and therapeutic potential of vagus nerve-targeted neuromodulation.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Review
- Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation: mechanisms, applications, and research progress.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Review
- Modulating autonomic nervous system activity with transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation in Parkinson's disease: a proof of concept study.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Article
- Balancing the autonomic scale: the promise of transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation in combating cardiovascular diseases.Frontiers in physiology · 2026Review
- Autonomic imbalance in cardiovascular disease: molecular mechanisms and emerging therapeutics.American journal of physiology. Cell physiology · 2025Review
- Article
- Article
- Computational modelling of cardiac control following myocardial infarction using an in silico patient cohort.The Journal of physiology · 2025Article
- Comparison of the Acute Effects of Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation and Deep Breathing Exercise on the Autonomic Nervous System Activity and Biomechanical Properties of the Muscle in Healthy People.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- Effects of stimulation site and protocol on autonomic responses to auricular vagus nerve stimulation.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2025Article
- Altered leptin signaling and attenuated cardiac vagal activity in rats with type 2 diabetes.Frontiers in physiology · 2025Article
- Auricular acupressure combined with auricular acupoint massage enhances cognitive function in night shift nurses: a P300 wave analysis.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2025Article
- Treating heart failure by targeting the vagus nerve.Heart failure reviews · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeThis systematic review aimed to evaluate the effect of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation on heart rate variability and baroreflex sensitivity in healthy populations.
methodPubMed, Scopus, the Cochrane Library, Embase, and Web of Science were systematically searched for controlled trials that examined the effects of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation on heart rate variability parameters and baroreflex sensitivity in apparently healthy individuals. Two independent researchers screened the search results, extracted the data, and evaluated the quality of the included studies.
resultsFrom 2458 screened studies, 21 were included. Compared with baseline measures or the comparison group, significant changes in the standard deviation of NN intervals, the root mean square of successive RR intervals, the proportion of consecutive RR intervals that differ by more than 50 ms, high-frequency power, low-frequency to high-frequency ratio, and low-frequency power were found in 86%, 75%, 69%, 47%, 36%, and 25% of the studies evaluating the effects of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation on these indices, respectively. Baroreflex sensitivity was evaluated in six studies, of which a significant change was detected in only one. Some studies have shown that the worse the basic autonomic function, the better the response to transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation.
conclusionThe results were mixed, which may be mainly attributable to the heterogeneity of the study designs and stimulation delivery dosages. Thus, future studies with comparable designs are required to determine the optimal stimulation parameters and clarify the significance of autonomic indices as a reliable marker of neuromodulation responsiveness.
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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.