ArticleTrials2024
Heart rate and breathing effects on attention and memory (HeartBEAM): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial in older adults.
Article in Trials, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT05602220 (Heart Rate and Breathing Effects on Attention and Memory), which is not on this map. Cited by 12 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.
Heart Rate and Breathing Effects on Attention and Memory
Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 11 citations in OpenAlex.
- The causative role of amyloidosis in the cardiac complications of Alzheimer's disease: a comprehensive systematic review.The Journal of physiology · 2026Pooled it
- Testing effects of paced breathing on plasma Aβ and brain perivascular spaces.International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology · 2026Trial
- When attention falters: Brain, breathing, and behavioral signals of lapses in interoceptive attention.Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience · 2026Article
- Age differences in rapid attention to emotional stimuli are driven more by valence than by discrete emotions.Emotion (Washington, D.C.) · 2026Article
- Daily Paced Breathing Sessions Induce Left Orbitofrontal Volume Changes Linked to Cognitive Outcomes.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Electroencephalography, pupillometry, and behavioral evidence for locus coeruleus-noradrenaline system related tonic hyperactivity in older adults.Neurobiology of aging · 2026Article
- When attention falters: brain, breathing, and behavioral signals of lapses in interoceptive attention.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Electroencephalography, pupillometry, and behavioral evidence for locus coeruleus-noradrenaline system related tonic hyperactivity in older adults.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Surgical Implantation of a Telemetry-Based Pressure Sensor in the Internal Jugular Vein to Monitor Respiration Wirelessly.Bio-protocol · 2025Article
- Effects of A Brief Resonance Frequency Breathing Exercise on Heart Rate Variability and Inhibitory Control in the Context of Generalised Anxiety Disorder.Applied psychophysiology and biofeedback · 2025Article
- Dysautonomia in Alzheimer's Disease: A Systematic Review.Brain sciences · 2025Review
- Unraveling the brain-heart axis: Mendelian randomization study on the causal relationship between heart rate variability and dementia.Journal of Alzheimer's disease reportsArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
17 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundIn healthy people, the "fight-or-flight" sympathetic system is counterbalanced by the "rest-and-digest" parasympathetic system. As we grow older, the parasympathetic system declines as the sympathetic system becomes hyperactive. In our prior heart rate variability biofeedback and emotion regulation (HRV-ER) clinical trial, we found that increasing parasympathetic activity through daily practice of slow-paced breathing significantly decreased plasma amyloid-β (Aβ) in healthy younger and older adults. In healthy adults, higher plasma Aβ is associated with greater risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Our primary goal of this trial is to reproduce and extend our initial findings regarding effects of slow-paced breathing on Aβ. Our secondary objectives are to examine the effects of daily slow-paced breathing on brain structure and the rate of learning.
methodsAdults aged 50-70 have been randomized to practice one of two breathing protocols twice daily for 9 weeks: (1) "slow-paced breathing condition" involving daily cognitive training followed by slow-paced breathing designed to maximize heart rate oscillations or (2) "random-paced breathing condition" involving daily cognitive training followed by random-paced breathing to avoid increasing heart rate oscillations. The primary outcomes are plasma Aβ40 and Aβ42 levels and plasma Aβ42/40 ratio. The secondary outcomes are brain perivascular space volume, hippocampal volume, and learning rates measured by cognitive training performance. Other pre-registered outcomes include plasma pTau-181/tTau ratio and urine Aβ42. Recruitment began in January 2023. Interventions are ongoing and will be completed by the end of 2023. DISCUSSION: Our HRV-ER trial was groundbreaking in demonstrating that a behavioral intervention can reduce plasma Aβ levels relative to a randomized control group. We aim to reproduce these findings while testing effects on brain clearance pathways and cognition.
trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT05602220. Registered on January 12, 2023.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.