Is decrease in heart rate variability response to task related to anxiety and depressiveness in normal subjects?
Decreased HRV response to task application is related to anxiety and depressiveness. Decreased autonomic responsiveness could serve as a sign of psychological dysfunction.
This is the first evidence in humans that increased vulnerability of female fetuses to maternal stress responses during pregnancy persists into adolescence. One explanation for gender differences emerging later is more depressive symptomatology is attributed to heritable risk at 12, whereas biological processes involved in brain development at 18 may be influenced by foetal programming. If replicated, this study has potential to help understand intergenerational transmission of depression, a leading cause of morbidity worldwide.