Heart period variability and depressive symptoms: gender differences

Background: Deceased heart period variability has been associated with cardiac events and depressive symptoms; however, the results of studies are not unequivocal. We hypothesize that gender differences in the various study samples may have contributed to the lack of uniformity of findings. Methods: Time and frequency domain measures of heart period variability during a 5-min resting baseline were examined in 15 depressed (8 female) and 11 nondepressed (6 female) college students. Results: Both time and frequency domain measures indicated an interaction between gender and depressive symptoms, such that depressed male subjects showed less heart period variability, whereas depressed female subjects showed more heart period variability compared to their nondepressed counterparts. Conclusions: These results suggest that future studies investigating the relationship between heart period variability and depressive symptoms examine gender differences.