Alterations in HPA-axis and autonomic nervous system functioning in childhood anxiety disorders point to a chronic stress hypothesis

Oct 12, 2014Psychoneuroendocrinology

Changes in stress and automatic nervous system activity in childhood anxiety suggest ongoing stress

AI simplified

Circadian Biology on OpenScience ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Abstract

Children with anxiety disorders displayed lower high frequency heart rate variability during rest compared to a general population reference group.

Children aged 8 to 12 with anxiety disorders exhibited heightened anticipatory perceived arousal compared to their peers.
The anxiety disorder group had higher basal and reactive skin conductance levels than the general population reference group.
Lower basal functioning of the HPA-axis was observed in children with anxiety disorders relative to the general population.
A high clinical 'load,' defined as the existence of three or more clinical disorders, was linked to altered functioning in both the autonomic nervous system and HPA-axis.
Specific phobia could be differentiated from social phobia and separation anxiety disorder based on higher skin conductance levels.

AI simplified

BACKGROUND: It is of debate whether or not childhood anxiety disorders (AD) can be captured by one taxonomic construct. This study examined whether perceived arousal (PA), autonomic nervous system (ANS) and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis measures can distinguish children with different primary diagnoses of clinical anxiety disorders (AD) from each other, and from a general population reference group (GP).

METHODS: The study sample consisted of 152 AD children (comparing separation anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, social phobia and specific phobia), aged 8- to 12-years, and 200 same-aged reference children. HPA-axis functioning was measured by a diurnal cortisol profile. ANS functioning was measured by continuous measures of skin conductance level in rest and during a mental arithmetic task and high frequency heart rate variability in rest. PA was assessed by a questionnaire.

RESULTS: The AD sample showed lower high frequency heart rate variability during rest, heightened anticipatory PA, higher basal and reactive skin conductance levels and lower basal HPA-axis functioning compared to the GP sample. The existence of three or more clinical disorders, i.e. a high clinical 'load', was associated with lower basal HPA-axis functioning, higher skin conductance level and lower posttest PA. Specific phobia could be discerned from social phobia and separation anxiety disorder on higher skin conductance level.

CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicated that children with AD have specific psychophysiological characteristics, which resemble the psychophysiological characteristics of chronic stress. A high clinical 'load' is associated with an altered ANS and HPA-axis functioning. Overall, ANS and HPA-axis functioning relate to AD in general, accept for specific phobia.

Full Text

Full text is available at the source.

View full text (XML) ↗View full text ↗

Alterations in HPA-axis and autonomic nervous system functioning in childhood anxiety disorders point to a chronic stress hypothesis

Abstract

Full Text

You found one interesting study. We’ll send the next 7.

what lands in your inbox each week:

Recent issues from the circadian biology brief

Abstract

Full Text

Related papers

You found one interesting study. We’ll send the next 7.

what lands in your inbox each week:

Recent issues from the circadian biology brief