ArticlePsychosomatic medicine2024
Effects of Daily Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms on Heart Rate Variability.
Article in Psychosomatic medicine, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
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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
4 citing papers in PubMed, 5 citations in OpenAlex.
- From Molecules to Meaning: Integrating Neuropeptides, Sociostasis, and Hormesis in the Brain-Heart Axis.Current issues in molecular biology · 2026Review
- Scoping Review of Experience Sampling Methodology Investigations of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms.Clinical psychology : a publication of the Division of Clinical Psychology of the American Psychological Association · 2026Article
- Mechanisms and Clinical Implications of the Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)-Cardiovascular Disease Link.Cureus · 2025Review
- Multilevel and multimodal biobehavioral methods in the study of stress, trauma, and resilience: a systems approach.Journal of neural transmission (Vienna, Austria : 1996) · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectivePosttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is common, debilitating, and associated with an increased risk of health problems, including cardiovascular disease. PTSD is related to poor autonomic function indicated by reduced heart rate variability (HRV). However, very little work has tested the timescale or direction of these effects, given that most evidence comes from cross-sectional studies. Documentation of when effects occur and in what direction can shed light on mechanisms of cardiovascular disease risk and inform treatment. The present study of 169 World Trade Center responders, oversampled for PTSD, tested how daily PTSD symptoms were associated with autonomic function as reflected through HRV.
methodsParticipants ( N = 169) completed surveys of PTSD symptoms three times a day at 5-hour intervals for 4 days while also wearing ambulatory monitors to record electrocardiograms to derive HRV (i.e., mean absolute value of successive differences between beat-to-beat intervals).
resultsHRV did not predict PTSD symptoms. However, PTSD symptoms during a 5-hour interval predicted reduced HRV at the next 5-hour interval ( β = -0.09, 95% confidence interval = -0.16 to -0.02, p = .008). Results held adjusting for baseline age, current heart problems, and current PTSD diagnosis.
conclusionsFindings underscore growing awareness that PTSD symptoms are not static. Even their short-term fluctuations may affect cardiovascular functioning, which could have more severe impacts if disruption accumulates over time. Research is needed to determine if momentary interventions can halt increases in PTSD symptoms or mitigate their impact on cardiovascular health.
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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.