Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, part of the Mass General Brigham Health Care System, have found evidence of a common brain link between depression and decreased heart rate.
The findings provide an important explanation for improvements in Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) therapy, offering new opportunities for personalized depression treatment without the need for brain scans.
A study of 14 people without depressive symptoms revealed a complex relationship between mood and physiological effects.
Analyzing data from these participants, researchers found that non-invasive procedures that target specific brain areas associated with depression also have an effect on heart rate.
This breakthrough means that doctors can target these areas without relying on expensive and rarely used brain imaging scans.
“This idea was first presented at a conference in Croatia where Dutch researchers presented data linking the heart to the brain,” said senior author Shan Siddiqui from Brigham’s Department of Psychiatry and Center for Brain Circuit Therapy. They showed that TMS can temporarily reduce heart rate and impulses. “
“The most exciting part of the vision is to give the world easier access to targeted treatment for depression. We can do more with the advanced technology available here in Boston to help people with symptoms. But some of these things have never been possible reach other parts of the world before.”
Through careful analysis, the researchers identified ten different brain regions, each categorized as a “correlation region” with varying degrees of effectiveness in treating depression. Further analysis of the effect of stimulation of this site on heart rate yielded important insights. By identifying unique therapeutic sites in the brain, this advance promises to revolutionize the personalization of TMS therapy for depression.
Lead author Eva Dijkstra, MSc, said: “We wanted to see if there was a specific heart-brain connection in the connected regions. We found that for 12 of the 14 usable data sets, we had a high accuracy in identifying the regions associated with heart rate measurement during brain stimulation.”
Eliminating the need for an MRI scan before treatment simplifies treatment and makes it more accessible and efficient for patients.
These advances can ease the burden of the diagnostic process and expedite the necessary depression treatment.
Siddiqui said the results of this study can help develop treatments that can be useful for cardiologists and emergency physicians in clinical settings.
Study reveals shared brain network between depression and heart rate deceleration
