THE INFLUENCE OF ANTIDEPRESSANTS ON AUTON OMIC CARDIAC REGULATION

Several parameters of heart rate variability (HRV) have been used to e stablish functional criteria of cardiovascular autonomic alteration. i n the past years, the impact of antidepressant psychotropic drugs on H RV parameters have been investigated systematically. It has been shown concordantly that HRV is significantly decreased under the condition of treatment with tricyclic antidepressants (TCA). This is probably du e to the strong anticholinergic side effect of TCA, because treatment with clozapine caused a similar effect on HRV. On the other hand, trea tment with selective inhibitors of serotonin (SSRI) reuptake did not c hange HRV.