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Implementation and Interpretation of Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia Measures in Psychosomatic Medicine: Practice Against Better Evidence?

Thomas Ritz, PhD and Bernhard Dahme, PhD

From the Department of Psychology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas (T.R.); Department of Psychology, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany (B.D.).


Figure 116
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  		Figure 1. Percent RSA variance accounted for in within-individual hierarchical linear regressions with (A) TTOT or (B) VT entering as the first predictor for conditions of spontaneous VT and voluntary variation of VT (VT range restricted to match spontaneous VT conditions, and full VT range).

 

Figure 216
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  		Figure 2. A, The slope of the regression (sensitivity parameter) is thought to be a stable characteristic of the individual, whereas the intercept varies with changes in cardiac vagal tone (reproduced with permission from Grossman and Kollai, 1993); x-axis: respiration rate (in Hz), y-axis: RSA/VT. The two lines represent the same individual at different levels of cardiac vagal tone. B, Example for two individuals with different sensitivities of the respiratory modulation of RSA/VT. In this illustrative case, both show decreases of cardiac vagal tone from baseline to the experimental phase; solid lines: RSA/VT regression line during baseline paced breathing calibration with three respiration rates (TTOT = 6.5, 5, and 3.5 s, equaling 9.2, 12, and 17.1 breaths/min); dashed lines: hypothetical level of RSA/VT for the three respiration rates during a subsequent experiment that led to a decrease in vagal tone. RSA/VT for the experiment is calculated for each breath as observed RSA/VT minus RSA/VT baseline at the observed TTOT of the respective breath.

 




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