Antidepressants strongly influence the relationship between depression and heart rate variability: findings from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA)

Abstract

Our results suggest that reductions in HRV observed among depressed older adults are driven by the effects of antidepressant medications. SSRIs have less impact on HRV than other antidepressants but they are still associated with lower measures of HRV. Study limitations include the use of a self-report measure of depression and floor effects of age on HRV could have limited our ability to detect an association between HRV and depression.