Progress in neuro-psychopharmacology & biological psychiatry
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Prog. Neuropsychopharmacol. Biol. Psychiatry · Jan 2016
Review Meta AnalysisResting state vagal tone in borderline personality disorder: A meta-analysis.
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is the most common personality disorder in clinical settings. It is characterized by negative affectivity, emotional liability, anxiety, depression, as well as disinhibition (i.e., impulsivity and risk taking), all of which have been linked to lower resting state vagal tone, which may be indexed by vagally-mediated heart rate variability (vmHRV). Here, we aimed to quantify the current evidence on alterations in resting state vmHRV in individuals with BPD, relative to healthy controls. ⋯ Control for potential publication bias did not change observed findings. Lowered resting state vagal tone may be an important trait characteristic underlying BPD. As prior studies have observed lowered vmHRV in a variety of psychiatric disorders, we propose that lowered vmHRV may reflect a common psychophysiological mechanism underlying difficulties in emotion regulation and impulsivity, in particular.