Adjunct yoga therapy: Influence on heart rate variability in major depressive disorder - A randomized controlled trial

Kankan Gulati; Praerna H Bhargav; Preethi V Reddy; Ramajayam Govindaraj; Arya Ravindran; D Gayathri; Sneha J Karmani; Kaviraja Udupa; Mariamma Philip; Monojit Debnath; Rose Dawn Bharath; T N Sathyaprabha; Ganesan Venkatasubramanian; Kesavan Muralidharan

doi:10.1016/j.ajp.2021.102832

Adjunct yoga therapy: Influence on heart rate variability in major depressive disorder - A randomized controlled trial

Asian J Psychiatr. 2021 Nov:65:102832. doi: 10.1016/j.ajp.2021.102832. Epub 2021 Sep 10.

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychiatry, NIMHANS.
² Department of Integrative Medicine, NIMHANS.
³ Department of Neurophysiology, NIMHANS.
⁴ Department of Biostatistics, NIMHANS.
⁵ Department of Human Genetics, NIMHANS.
⁶ Department of the Neuroimaging and Interventional radiology, NIMHANS.

PMID: 34592624
DOI: 10.1016/j.ajp.2021.102832

Abstract

HRV is inversely proportional to severity of depression. Effect of 12-weeks adjunct yoga therapy on HRV in patients with MDD was assessed through a randomized controlled trial. Sixty-eight subjects (40 females) with mean age 31.58 ± 8.79 years, scoring ≥ 18 on HDRS were randomized to either (YG; n = 35) or (WG; n = 33). Linear mixed model analysis showed no significant difference between groups. On comparing change in mean percentage, substantial more decrease could be elicited only for LF/HF ratio in YG compared to WG, while being comparable for other variables across the groups. Findings suggest Yoga therapy may help in bringing parasympathetic dominance in patients with MDD.

Keywords: Depression; HRV; MDD; Mean percentage change; RCT; Yoga.

Publication types

Randomized Controlled Trial

MeSH terms

Adult
Combined Modality Therapy
Depressive Disorder, Major* / therapy
Female
Heart Rate
Humans
Meditation*
Yoga*
Young Adult