Heart rate variability is associated with global cognition and cognitive impairment: Results from the einstein aging study
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Abstract Background The role of autonomic function in cognitive impairment is unclear. Heart rate variability (HRV) provides a feasible, non‐invasive measure of cardiac autonomic control. We examined whether HRV is associated with global cognition and cognitive impairment using 7‐day ambulatory ECG assessments in the Einstein Aging Study. Method Analyses included 84 participants free of dementia (mean age 78.1 (± 5.2) years; 82% female; 39% non‐Hispanic White, 44% non‐Hispanic Black, mean education 14.7 (± 3.3 years)). Participants wore a small, single lead ECG device continuously over 7 days. Power spectral analyses were applied to determine HRV over 5‐minute epochs in the high (0.15‐0.40 Hz, hfHRV) and low (0.04‐0.15 Hz, lfHRV) frequency bands, and values were log transformed. Demographics, comorbidities, and cognition were assessed during clinic visits. Two tests per domain evaluated memory, executive function, language, visuo‐spatial and attention with impairment defined as performance ≥ 1.5 SD below the age, sex, education standardized norm on at least one test. Global cognition was assessed using the MoCA, and Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) was defined using Jak‐Bondi criteria. Associations of HRV with cognition were examined using logistic (MCI, domain specific impairment) and linear (MoCA) regression adjusting for age, sex, race/ethnicity and education, diabetes, and hypertension. Result Mean MoCA score was 24 (SD 3.5), 21 (25%) had MCI and impairment was identified in 25% (memory), 28.6% (executive function), 21.4% (attention), 17.9% (language) and 27.4% (visuospatial). Both hfHRV and lfHRV were inversely associated with MCI (OR per 1 SD increase in log HRV: 0.47, p = 0.02 for hfHRV and 0.42, p = 0.01 for lfHRV) and with memory impairment (OR per 1 SD increase in log HRV: 0.52, p = 0.03 for hfHRV and 0.43, p = 0.01 for lfHRV). Higher hfHRV and lfHRV were each associated with better MoCA score (β for 1 SD increase in log HRV: 0.65, p = 0.046 for hfHRV; 0.80, p = 0.02). Conclusion Whether HRV is associated with cognitive impairment remains unclear, particularly the role of hfHRV, indicative of parasympathetic control. Findings suggest that hfHRV is related to cognitive performance and impairment. Results for lfHRV also suggest joint effects of the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.001 | 0.002 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".