The ontogeny of autonomic measures in 6- and 12-month-old infants.
The purpose of this study was to develop a standardized protocol to measure preejection period (PEP), a measure of sympathetic nervous system, and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), a measure of parasympathetic nervous system, during resting and challenging states for 6- and 12-month-old infants and to determine developmental changes and individual stability of these measures. A 7-min reactivity protocol was administered to Latino infants at 6 months (n=194) and 12 months (n=181). Results showed: (1) it is feasible to measure PEP and RSA in infants, (2) the protocol elicited significant autonomic changes, (3) individual resting autonomic measures were moderately stable from 6 to 12 months, but reactivity measures were not stable, and (4) heart rate and RSA resting and challenge group means changed significantly from 6 to 12 months. Findings suggest that although infants' autonomic responses show developmental changes, individuals' rank order is stable from 6 to 12 months of age.
School of Nursing, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143-0606, USA. abbey.alkon@nursing.ucsf.edu
Abbey
A
Alkon
Suzanne
S
Lippert
Nicole
N
Vujan
Marya Eugenya
ME
Rodriquez
W Thomas
WT
Boyce
Brenda
B
Eskenazi
D000367:Age Factors; D000383:Agriculture; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D017776:Autonomic Pathways / Q000502:physiology*; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004594:Electrophysiology; D005260:Female; D005712:Galvanic Skin Response / Q000502:physiology; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D010275:Parasympathetic Nervous System / Q000502:physiology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012119:Respiration; D012146:Rest / Q000502:physiology; D012737:Sex Factors; D013564:Sympathetic Nervous System / Q000502:physiology