Autonomic nervous system activity and anxiety and depressive symptoms in mothers up to 2 years postpartum.

This study was conducted from 2012 to 2014 at University Hospital in Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine and a nearby obstetrics and gynecology department clinic in Japan. RESULTS: Anxiety and depression non-cases accounted for 67.6% (n = 73) of subjects, anxiety non-cases and depression doubtful and definite cases 7.4% (n = 8), anxiety doubtful and definite cases and depression non-cases 8.3% (n = 9), and anxiety and depression doubtful and definite cases 16.7% (n = 18). Findings were similar for women with anxiety or depression, with total power (TP), low-frequency (LF) and high-frequency (HF) components of HRV among doubtful and definite cases significantly lower than among non-cases for both anxiety (p = 0.006, 0.034, 0.029, respectively) and depression (p = 0.001, 0.004, 0.007). Significant correlations were observed between TP, LF and HF and anxiety and depression scores (respective values for anxiety: rs = -0.331, p <0.001; rs = -0.286, p = 0.003; rs = -0.269, p = 0.005; and depression: rs = -0.389, rs = -0.353, rs = -0.337, all p <0.001). DISCUSSION: The present study demonstrated that mothers with anxiety or depressive symptoms had significantly lower HRV (HF, LF and TP) than those without. PMID: 26939739 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Journal of Psychosomatic Obstetrics and Gynaecology - Category: OBGYN Tags: J Psychosom Obstet Gynaecol Source Type: research