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Evaluation of autonomic nervous system by salivary alpha-amylase level and heart rate variability in patients with schizophrenia

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Abstract

Several researches indicate that autonomic nervous system (ANS) dysfunction in patients with schizophrenia. Recently, salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) has been employed as a useful marker for ANS function. We investigated the extent of ANS dysfunction by measuring sAA and heart rate variability (HRV) of 25 patients with schizophrenia compared with controls. Schizophrenia group demonstrated a significant increase in sAA and markedly lower parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) activity in the HRV. However, there were no significant differences between two groups in sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activity. We concluded that PNS might be suppressed and the SNS shows relatively high activity in schizophrenia.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Dr. Akira Nishida (Kaisei Hospital, Izumo, Japan) and our colleagues in the Department of Psychiatry of Shimane University Faculty of Medicine. Part of this work was supported by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Priority Areas No. 13770544 and 50284047 from the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture of Japan.

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All authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Shimane University, 89-1 Enya-cho, Izumo, Shimane, 693-8501, Japan

    Masa Ieda, Tsuyoshi Miyaoka, Rei Wake, Kristian Liaury, Keiko Tsuchie, Michiyo Fukushima, Tomoko Araki, Satoko Ezoe & Jun Horiguchi

  2. Health Administration Center, Shimane University, 89-1 Enya-cho, Izumo, Shimane, 693-8501, Japan

    Satoko Ezoe

  3. Department of Psychology and Special Support Education, Shimane University of Education, 1060 Nishikawatsu-cho, Matsue, Shimane, 690-8504, Japan

    Takuji Inagaki

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  1. Masa Ieda
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  2. Tsuyoshi Miyaoka
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Correspondence to Tsuyoshi Miyaoka.

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Ieda, M., Miyaoka, T., Wake, R. et al. Evaluation of autonomic nervous system by salivary alpha-amylase level and heart rate variability in patients with schizophrenia. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 264, 83–87 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-013-0411-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-013-0411-6

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