[Changes of heart rate in relation to diurnal variations in endogenic depression in women]

Heart rate data as produced by the subjects under investigation both in resting conditions and taken as total means per trial initially showed a trend towards ergotropic, clearly tachycardiac behavior; with the onset of thymoleptic drug therapy, there followed a further increase in heart rate, frequencies remaining more or less stationary on this level during the 26-day period observed by us. We found differences between morning and evening data of session A with 50% of subjects, 25% showing higher frequencies in their morning data, the reverse applying to a further 25%. The remaining 50% did not show any differences worth mentioning. At the end of the investigation period, the relation changed in favor of an increase in heart rate in the evening with 50% of subjects, whereas only 12.5% showed increased heart rate in the morning; 37.5% did not show significant differences. We could not demonstrate these results to be related to diurnal variation, degree of depression or course of the disease.