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Heritability of cardiac vagal control in 24‐h heart rate variability recordings: Influence of ceiling effects at low heart rates
Author(s) -
Neijts Melanie,
Van Lien Rene,
Kupper Nina,
Boomsma Dorret,
Willemsen Gonneke,
Geus Eco J. C.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
psychophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.661
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1469-8986
pISSN - 0048-5772
DOI - 10.1111/psyp.12246
Subject(s) - heart rate variability , heritability , vagal tone , heart rate , cardiology , ambulatory , medicine , psychology , blood pressure , biology , genetics
This study estimated the heritability of 24‐h heart rate variability ( HRV ) measures, while considering ceiling effects on HRV at low heart rates during the night. HRV was indexed by the standard deviation of all valid interbeat intervals ( SDNN ), the root mean square of differences between valid, successive interbeat intervals ( RMSSD ), and peak‐valley respiratory sinus arrhythmia ( pvRSA ). Sleep and waking levels of cardiac vagal control were assessed in 1,003 twins and 285 of their non‐twin siblings. Comparable heritability estimates were found for SDNN (46%–53%), RMSSD (49%–54%), and pvRSA (48%–57%) during the day and night. A nighttime ceiling effect was revealed in 10.7% of participants by a quadratic relationship between mean pvRSA and the interbeat interval. Excluding these participants did not change the heritability estimates. The genetic factors influencing ambulatory pvRSA , RMSSD , and SDNN largely overlap. These results suggest that gene‐finding studies may pool the different cardiac vagal indices and that exclusion of participants with low heart rates is not required.