Dataset Information

Feasibility and Efficacy of the Addition of Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback to a Remote Digital Health Intervention for Depression.

ABSTRACT: A rise in the prevalence of depression underscores the need for accessible and effective interventions. The objectives of this study were to determine if the addition of a treatment component showing promise in treating depression, heart rate variability-biofeedback (HRV-B), to our original smartphone-based, 8-week digital intervention was feasible and whether patients in the HRV-B ("enhanced") intervention were more likely to experience clinically significant improvements in depressive symptoms than patients in our original ("standard") intervention. We used a quasi-experimental, non-equivalent (matched) groups design to compare changes in symptoms of depression in the enhanced group (n?=?48) to historical outcome data from the standard group (n?=?48). Patients in the enhanced group completed a total average of 3.86 h of HRV-B practice across 25.8 sessions, and were more likely to report a clinically significant improvement in depressive symptom score post-intervention than participants in the standard group, even after adjusting for differences in demographics and engagement between groups (adjusted OR 3.44, 95% CI [1.28-9.26], P?=?.015). Our findings suggest that adding HRV-B to an app-based, smartphone-delivered, remote intervention for depression is feasible and may enhance treatment outcomes.

SUBMITTER: Economides M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7250954 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Feasibility and Efficacy of the Addition of Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback to a Remote Digital Health Intervention for Depression.

Economides Marcos M Lehrer Paul P Ranta Kristian K Nazander Albert A Hilgert Outi O Raevuori Anu A Gevirtz Richard R Khazan Inna I Forman-Hoffman Valerie L VL

Applied psychophysiology and biofeedback 20200601 2

A rise in the prevalence of depression underscores the need for accessible and effective interventions. The objectives of this study were to determine if the addition of a treatment component showing promise in treating depression, heart rate variability-biofeedback (HRV-B), to our original smartphone-based, 8-week digital intervention was feasible and whether patients in the HRV-B ("enhanced") intervention were more likely to experience clinically significant improvements in depressive symptoms ...[more]

PMID: 32246229

Similar Datasets

Project description:Despite previous findings of therapeutic effects for heart rate variability biofeedback (HRVB) on asthma, it is not known whether HRVB can substitute either for controller or rescue medication, or whether it affects airway inflammation. Sixty-eight paid volunteer steroid naïve study participants with mild or moderate asthma were given 3 months of HRVB or a comparison condition consisting of EEG alpha biofeedback with relaxing music and relaxed paced breathing (EEG+), in a two-center trial. All participants received a month of intensive asthma education prior to randomization. Both treatment conditions produced similar significant improvements on the methacholine challenge test (MCT), asthma symptoms, and asthma quality of life (AQOL). MCT effects were of similar size to those of enhanced placebo procedures reported elsewhere, and were 65% of those of a course of a high-potency inhaled steroid budesonide given to a sub-group of participants following biofeedback training. Exhaled nitric oxide decreased significantly only in the HRVB group, 81% of the budesonide effect, but with no significant differences between groups. Participants reported becoming more relaxed during practice of both techniques. Administration of albuterol after biofeedback sessions produced a large improvement in pulmonary function test results, indicating that neither treatment normalized pulmonary function as a potent controller medication would have done. Impulse oscillometry showed increased upper airway (vocal cord) resistance during biofeedback periods in both groups. These data suggest that HRVB should not be considered an alternative to asthma controller medications (e.g., inhaled steroids), although both biofeedback conditions produced some beneficial effects, warranting further research, and suggesting potential complementary effects. Various hypotheses are presented to explain why HRVB effects on asthma appeared smaller in this study than in earlier studies. Clinical Trial Registration NCT02766374.

Dataset Information

Feasibility and Efficacy of the Addition of Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback to a Remote Digital Health Intervention for Depression.

Publications

Feasibility and Efficacy of the Addition of Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback to a Remote Digital Health Intervention for Depression.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets