Real-time assessment of heart rate variability and loss of control eating in adolescent girls: A pilot study

ObjectiveStudying physiologic underpinnings of loss-of-control (LOC) eating may inform its etiology and contribute to intervention efforts. We therefore examined temporal relationships between autonomic indices [heart rate (HR), heart rate variability (HRV)] and LOC-eating in the natural environment. MethodFor two days, adolescents (n=17, 14.771.55 years, BMI-Z 2.170.48) with LOC-eating reported on LOC using an electronic device while HR and HRV were assessed continuously using Holter monitoring. ResultsHigher HR and lower HRV in the 30-minutes before eating were significantly associated with LOC-eating overall (p's<0.001) and at the within-participants level (p's<0.001), but not at the between-participants level (p's> 0.44). Examined categorically, HR was significantly higher, and HRV significantly lower, prior to high-LOC compared to low-LOC episodes (p's<0.001). DiscussionThis pilot study suggests that LOC-eating may involve physiologic underpinnings. Additional research with larger samples is needed to further investigate this phenomenon. (c) 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (Int J Eat Disord 2016; 49:199-203).