Assessment of Cardiac Autonomic Behavior in Patients With Mood Disorders

• Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression(HAM-D-17)-17 ; Montgomery & Asberg Rating Scale for Depression(MADRS); Escala de Avaliação de Mania de Bech-Rafaelsen (EAM-BR); Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI. [ Time Frame: 3 months (period between the first and the second assessments) ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  Both scales for depression and mania will be compared with the linear and nonlinear results from the heart rate variability in the period of 3 months.
  
  

• Polar RS800CX hear-rate monitor; Kubios HRV version 2.0 software; Visual Recurrence Analysis software. [ Time Frame: 3 months (period between the first and the second assessments) ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  The heart rate variability will be obtained from 20-min R to R wave (RR) interval data using the Polar. The data will be estimated by analysis from both softwares.
  
  

Mood disorders are strongly associated with changes in cardiovascular function and alterations in Hear Rate Variability (HRV). Fluctuation in heart rate occurs over a wide frequency and demonstrates a broad, irregular variability that suggests that the mechanisms involved in cardiovascular regulation interact in a nonlinear manner. Over the past decade, there has been an increasing emphasis on applying nonlinear methods of analysis to characterize cardiac function, but the studies on the pathophysiology of mood disorders in general still remain under a linear and reductionist perspective. The scarcity of both Brazilian and international studies on the autonomic behavior in mood disorders in general and not only in Major Depressive Disorder, as well as the use of a non-linear reading of the results of this study makes an additional tool of analysis.