SynthesisPsychological bulletin
Physiological responses to acute psychological stress as a biomarker for depression: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Psychological bulletin. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper, 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
1 citing paper in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Physiological responses to acute psychological stress as a biomarker for depression: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Psychological bulletinPooled it
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.
Funding
Abstract
Exposure to psychological stress, as well as individual differences in stress responses, has consistently been implicated in the onset and prognosis of depression. Although stress and depression are closely linked, their underlying physiological mechanisms remain unclear. Given the heterogeneity of depressive symptoms, identifying physiological biomarkers may improve diagnosis and treatment. Prior reviews and meta-analyses suggest a connection between depression and physiological stress reactivity, but inconsistent findings across depression measures and physiological outcomes have limited comprehensive understanding. As such, the purpose of the present meta-analysis was to extend prior work investigating the relationship between depression and physiological responses (both the autonomic nervous system and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis) to standardized acute psychological stress tasks. A total of 126 studies were identified through PubMed, Embase, APA PsycInfo, and ProQuest. Included studies examined either clinically diagnosed depression (vs. healthy controls) or depressive symptomatology (i.e., continuous scores, high vs. low depression). Depression was associated with blunted overall physiological responses to active mental stress (Hg = -0.09, 95% CI [-0.14, -0.03]) driven primarily by cardiac (Hg = -0.17, 95% CI [-0.26, -0.07]) and hemodynamic (Hg = -0.08, 95% CI [-0.15, -0.02]) parameters. No statistically significant associations were found for heart rate variability or neuroendocrine reactivity. Depression was not associated with physiological reactivity to the cold pressor task. There was no significant association between remitted depression and physiological stress reactivity. These findings suggest that blunted cardiac and hemodynamic reactivity to active mental stress is a state-dependent systems marker and may serve as a treatment response indicator. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
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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.