Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40096118›Full record

ArticleSensors (Basel, Switzerland)2025

Non-Pharmacological Mitigation of Acute Mental Stress-Induced Sympathetic Arousal: Comparison Between Median Nerve Stimulation and Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation.

Yuanyuan Zhou, Sina Masoumi Shahrbabak, Rayan Bahrami, Farhan N Rahman, Jesus Antonio Sanchez-Perez, Asim H Gazi, Omer T Inan, Jin-Oh Hahn

Abstract readComparative Study
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Sensors (Basel, Switzerland), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
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

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
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

8 authors.

Yuanyuan ZhouMechanical Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
Sina Masoumi ShahrbabakMechanical Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.ORCID 0009-0006-6280-3169
Rayan BahramiMechanical Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
Farhan N RahmanElectrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA.
Jesus Antonio Sanchez-PerezElectrical and Computer Engineering, University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez, Mayagüez, PR 00680, USA.
Asim H GaziComputer Science, Harvard University, Allston, MA 02134, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-4698-2823
Omer T InanElectrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-7952-1794
Jin-Oh HahnMechanical Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-5429-2836

Funding

Aspen Institute William Randolph Hearst FellowshipOffice of Naval Research N00014-21-1-2031Rhodes Trust Schmidt Science FellowsUniversity of Maryland Graduate School Faculty-Student Research Award
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Acute mental stress is a common experience in daily life, significantly affecting both physiological and psychological well-being. While traditional pharmacological interventions can be effective, they often accompany undesirable side effects. Non-pharmacological alternatives, such as non-invasive transcutaneous peripheral neuromodulation, have promise in mitigating acute stress-induced arousal, possibly with fewer side effects. Median nerve stimulation (MNS) and auricular vagus nerve stimulation (AVNS), in particular, have demonstrated notable potential. However, efficacy and mechanism of action pertaining to MNS and AVNS remain largely unknown. This paper comparatively investigated MNS and AVNS in terms of efficacy and mechanism of action in the context of mitigating acute stress-induced arousal. Using an experimental dataset collected from 19 healthy participants who experienced acute mental stressors as well as MNS and AVNS, we showed that (i) MNS and AVNS are both effective in mitigating acute stress-induced cardiovascular arousal with MNS modestly superior to AVNS in terms of a synthetic multi-modal variable derived from physio-markers representing heart rate, blood pressure, stroke volume, cardiac output, and peripheral vasoconstriction: 74% vs. 71% in explainability; 86% vs. 69% in stimulation consistency; 0.77 vs. 0.40 in stimulation sensitivity; and 34% vs. 19% in stimulation effectiveness, respectively; and that (ii) MNS and AVNS mitigate acute stress-induced cardiovascular arousal in a distinct mechanism of action: MNS primarily mitigates the arousal pertaining to the physio-markers representing heart rate and peripheral vasoconstriction, while AVNS mitigates the arousal pertaining to the physio-markers representing heart rate, blood pressure, stroke volume, cardiac output, and peripheral vasoconstriction. These findings may help to support future device development for addressing acute mental stress-induced arousal through MNS or AVNS, and they pave the way toward a better understanding of how to quantify the efficacy of such interventions.

Indexed as

ArousalMedian NerveStress, PsychologicalVagus Nerve StimulationAdultBlood PressureFemaleHeart RateHumansMaleSympathetic Nervous SystemTranscutaneous Electric Nerve StimulationVagus NerveYoung Adultacute mental stressauricular vagus nerve stimulationmedian nerve stimulationperipheral neuromodulation

Identifiers

PMID40096118
PMCPMC11902678

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Registered trials

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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.