Cardioautonomic lability assessed by heart rate variability changes in Royal Canadian Mounted Police cadets during the cadet training program

Taylor A Teckchandani; J Patrick Neary; Katie L Andrews; Kirby Q Maguire; Laleh Jamshidi; Jolan Nisbet; Robyn E Shields; Tracie O Afifi; Shannon Sauer-Zavala; Lisa M Lix; Rachel L Krakauer; Gordon J G Asmundson; Gregory P Krätzig; R Nicholas Carleton

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1144783

Cardioautonomic lability assessed by heart rate variability changes in Royal Canadian Mounted Police cadets during the cadet training program

Front Psychol. 2023 Sep 27:14:1144783. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1144783. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Canadian Institute for Public Safety Research and Treatment-Institut Canadien de Recherche et de Traitement en Sécurité Publique (CIPSRT-ICRTSP), University of Regina, Regina, SK, Canada.
² Faculty of Kinesiology & Health Studies, University of Regina, Regina, SK, Canada.
³ Anxiety and Illness Behaviours Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Regina, Regina, SK, Canada.
⁴ Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada.
⁵ Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, United States.
⁶ Department of Psychology, University of Regina, Regina, SK, Canada.

Abstract

Objective: The current study examined variations in cardioautonomic lability during the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Cadet Training Program (CTP) between cadets starting their training who did or did not screen positive for one or more mental health disorders (i.e., posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD], major depressive disorder [MDD], social anxiety disorder [SAD], generalized anxiety disorder [GAD], panic disorder [PD], alcohol use disorder [AUD]).

Methods: Electrocardiogram (ECG) signals integrated into Hexoskin garments were used to record ECG and heart rate Over the 26-week CTP. There were 31 heart rate variability (HRV) parameters calculated using Kubios Premium HRV analysis software. Mann-Whitney U-tests were used to perform groupwise comparisons of participant raw values and HRV during the CTP.

Results: A total of 157 cadets (79% male) were screened for any mental disorder using self-report surveys and then grouped by positive and negative screening. Analyses indicated a statistically significant (p < 0.05) decrease in low frequency (LF): High Frequency (HF) variability during CTP, but only for cadets who endorsed clinically significant anxiety symptoms on the GAD-7 at the start of their training. There were no other statistically significant groupwise differences.

Conclusion: The results indicate the participants have excellent cardiac health overall and suggest potentially important differences between groups, such that cadets who endorsed clinically significant anxiety symptoms on the GAD-7 showed less variability in the LF:HF ratio over the course of the CTP. The relatively lower variability suggests decreased parasympathetic tone in those without clinically significant anxiety symptoms. The results also have important implications for future investigations of cardioautonomic dysfunction and chronic hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis deviations in policing populations with anxiety disorders; specifically, cardioautonomic inflexibility related to cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. In any case, the current results provide an important baseline for future cardiac research with cadets and serving officers.

Keywords: RCMP cadets; cardiac; cardioautonomic dysfunction; generalized anxiety disorder (GAD); heart rate control.

Grants and funding

The RCMP Study is funded by support from the RCMP, the Government of Canada, and the Ministry of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness. LL is supported by a Tier I Canada Research Chair in Methods for Electronic Health Data Quality. TA is supported by a Tier I Canada Research Chair in Childhood Adversity and Resilience. The development, analyses, and distribution of the current article was made possible by a generous and much-appreciated grant from the Medavie Foundation.