The association between heart rate variability and cognitive impairment in middle-aged men and women

Background: To examine the relationship between reduced heart rate variability (HRV) and cognitive function in middleaged adults in the general population. Methods: HRV, in both time and frequency domains, and cognitive functioning were measured twice in 5,375 male and female participants of the UK Whitehall II study (mean ages = 55 and 61 years, respectively). Logistic regression was used to model associations between HRV and cognition [short-term verbal memory, reasoning (Alice Heim 4-I), vocabulary, phonemic and semantic fluency]. Cross-sectional associations were assessed at both waves, and longitudinal associations were measured as changes in cognition over the 5-year follow-up. Results: No consistent associations were found in men or women, either in the cross-sectional, prospective or the longitudinal analyses of declines in cognition. Conclusion: Reduced cardiovascular autonomic function does not contribute to cognitive impairment in this middle-aged population. Further studies are needed to verify the potential role of HRV measures in predicting the degeneration of cognitive function at older ages. Copyright (C) 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel.