SANP Swiss Archives of Neurology, Psychiatry and Psychotherapy 2297-7007 2297-6981 EMH Schweizerischer Ärzteverlag AG Farnsburgerstrasse 8 CH-4132 Muttenz 03284 10.4414/sanp.2023.03284 Original article Mood [affective] disorders Relationship between Heart Rate Variability and Major Depressive Disorder in Young Adults Subramaniam Vidhya vidhyasairampranav@gmail.com Coimbatore | 641004 | INDIA R Nagashree drnagashreehod@gmail.com INDIA 15 08 2023 174 04 126 129 Copyright: EMH Schweizerischer Ärzteverlag AG 2023 EMH Schweizerischer Ärzteverlag AG "Swiss Archives of Neurology, Psychiatry and Psychotherapy" is an open access publication of EMH published in accordance with the terms of the Creative Commons licence attribution - NonCommercial - NoDerivatives 4.0 International. You are free to share, copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format under the following terms: Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. NonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes. NoDerivatives — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material. "Non-commercial" means not primarily intended for or directed towards commercial advantage or monetary compensation. The incorporation of publications in commercial products, the use of publications to advertise for commercial products or services and any other usage that directly or indirectly pursues commercial interests is subject to the express previous consent of the publishing house as part of a written agreement. Please send us your request in writing. Exact indication of the publication from which you would like to reproduce material and detailed information about its intended use help to facilitate and expedite request processing.

Objectives: Heart rate variability (HRV) is a cost-effective and convenient tool to assess autonomic dysfunction, which has been sparsely studied in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) in India. Primary objective is to study relationship between HRV measures and MDD in young adults with that of standard normal values and secondary objective is to evaluate the changes in HRV measure with symptom severity. Methods: A total of 80 drug naïve MDD patients, aged between 18-45 years, without any major psychiatric or cardiovascular comorbidities were enrolled in the study. Severity was determined using Hamilton’s depression rating scale (HAM-D). Time and frequency domain variables of HRV were analyzed from electrocardiogram (ECG) recordings. The time and frequency domain variables were compared with that of standard normal values using unpaired Student’s t-test. These variables were also compared between mild, moderate, and severe MDD using analysis of variance (ANOVA). A p value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Highly significant differences between patients and standard values were observed in mean interbeat interval (RR) of time domain variable (( p <0.0001) and in low frequency (LF) power( p <0.0001), high frequency (HF) power ( p <0.0001) and LF/HF ratio( p <0.0001) of frequency domain variables. Significant associations of HRV measures were also found in mean RR interval ( F = 19.96, p <0.000), LF ( F = 7.53, p <0.001), HF ( F = 4.62, p <0.0126), and LF/HF ratio ( F = 140.21, p <0.000) among different symptom severity groups. Conclusion: This study provides evidence to implicate HRV as a cost-effective and convenient tool to assess autonomic dysfunction in MDD in young adults.