Cortical thickness and resting‐state cardiac function across the lifespan: A cross‐sectional pooled mega‐analysis
Creators: name: Koenig, Julian
name: Abler, Birgit
name: Agartz, Ingrid
name: Åkerstedt, Torbjörn
name: Andreassen, Ole A.
name: Anthony, Mia
name: Bär, Karl‐Jürgen
name: Bertsch, Katja
name: Brown, Rebecca C.
name: Brunner, Romuald
name: Carnevali, Luca
name: Critchley, Hugo D.
name: Cullen, Kathryn R.
name: De Geus, Eco J. C.
name: De La Cruz, Feliberto
name: Dziobek, Isabel
name: Ferger, Marc D.
name: Fischer, Håkan
name: Flor, Herta
name: Gaebler, Michael
name: Gianaros, Peter J
name: Giummarra, Melita J.
name: Greening, Steven G.
name: Guendelman, Simon
name: Heathers, James A. J.
name: Herpertz, Sabine C.
name: Hu, Mandy X.
name: Jentschke, Sebastian
name: Kaess, Michael
name: Kaufmann, Tobias
name: Klimes‐Dougan, Bonnie
name: Koelsch, Stefan
name: Krauch, Marlene
name: Kumral, Deniz
name: Lamers, Femke
name: Lee, Tae‐Ho
name: Lekander, Mats
name: Lin, Feng
name: Lotze, Martin
name: Makovac, Elena
name: Mancini, Matteo
name: Mancke, Falk
name: Månsson, Kristoffer N. T.
name: Manuck, Stephen B.
name: Mather, Mara
name: Meeten, Frances
name: Min, Jungwon
name: Mueller, Bryon
name: Muench, Vera
name: Nees, Frauke
name: Nga, Lin
name: Nilsonne, Gustav
name: Ordonez Acuna, Daniela
name: Osnes, Berge
name: Ottaviani, Cristina
name: Penninx, Brenda W. J. H.
name: Ponzio, Allison
name: Poudel, Govinda R.
name: Reinelt, Janis
name: Ren, Ping
name: Sakaki, Michiko
name: Schumann, Andy
name: Sørensen, Lin
name: Specht, Karsten
name: Straub, Joana
name: Tamm, Sandra
name: Thai, Michelle
name: Thayer, Julian F.
name: Ubani, Benjamin
name: Van Der Mee, Denise J.
name: Van Velzen, Laura S.
name: Ventura‐Bort, Carlos
name: Villringer, Arno
name: Watson, David R.
name: Wei, Luqing
name: Wendt, Julia
name: Schreiner, Melinda Westlund
name: Westlye, Lars T.
name: Weymar, Mathias
name: Winkelmann, Tobias
name: Wu, Guo‐Rong
name: Yoo, Hyun Joo
name: Quintana, Daniel S.
Publisher: name: Universität Ulm
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: cortical thickness
subject: heart rate variability
subject: DDC 610 / Medicine &amp; health
subject: Aging
subject: Autonomic nervous system
subject: Nervous system physiological phenomena
subject: Heart rate
subject: Sex factors
subject: Age factors
subject: Vegetatives Nervensystem
subject: Altern
subject: Herzfrequenz

description: Understanding the association between autonomic nervous system [ANS] function and brain morphology across the lifespan provides important insights into neurovisceral mechanisms underlying health and disease. Resting-state ANS activity, indexed by measures of heart rate [HR] and its variability [HRV] has been associated with brain morphology, particularly cortical thickness [CT]. While findings have been mixed regarding the anatomical distribution and direction of the associations, these inconsistencies may be due to sex and age differences in HR/HRV and CT. Previous studies have been limited by small sample sizes, which impede the assessment of sex differences and aging effects on the association between ANS function and CT. To overcome these limitations, 20 groups worldwide contributed data collected under similar protocols of CT assessment and HR/HRV recording to be pooled in a mega-analysis (N = 1,218 (50.5% female), mean age 36.7 years (range: 12–87)). Findings suggest a decline in HRV as well as CT with increasing age. CT, particularly in the orbitofrontal cortex, explained additional variance in HRV, beyond the effects of aging. This pattern of results may suggest that the decline in HRV with increasing age is related to a decline in orbitofrontal CT. These effects were independent of sex and specific to HRV; with no significant association between CT and HR. Greater CT across the adult lifespan may be vital for the maintenance of healthy cardiac regulation via the ANS—or greater cardiac vagal activity as indirectly reflected in HRV may slow brain atrophy. Findings reveal an important association between CT and cardiac parasympathetic activity with implications for healthy aging and longevity that should be studied further in longitudinal research.