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Review
. 2018 Feb;21(1):23-30.
doi: 10.1136/eb-2017-102760. Epub 2017 Dec 9.

Heart rate variability in bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder: a clinical review

Oliver Carr  1 , Maarten de Vos  1 , Kate E A Saunders  2   3
Affiliations
Review

Heart rate variability in bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder: a clinical review

Oliver Carr et al. Evid Based Ment Health. 2018 Feb.

Abstract

Heart rate variability (HRV) in psychiatric disorders has become an increasing area of interest in recent years following technological advances that enable non-invasive monitoring of autonomic nervous system regulation. However, the clinical interpretation of HRV features remain widely debated or unknown. Standardisation within studies of HRV in psychiatric disorders is poor, making it difficult to reproduce or build on previous work. Recently, a Guidelines for Reporting Articles on Psychiatry and Heart rate variability checklist has been proposed to address this issue. Here we assess studies of HRV in bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder against this checklist and discuss the implication for ongoing research in this area.

Keywords: cardiology; depression & mood disorders; pacing & electrophysiology; personality disorders; psychiatry.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(A) An ECG signal with R peaks denoted by black dots. (B) The corresponding tachogram or R–R interval series.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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