Association of Self-Reported Autonomic Symptoms with Sensor-Based Physiological Measures.

Autonomic regulation of organ and tissues may give rise to disruptions of typical functions. The Body Perception Questionnaire Short Form (BPQ-SF) includes items that were developed to assess autonomic symptoms in daily life. This pair of studies aimed to establish previously unexplored psychometric properties of the BPQ-SF autonomic symptoms scale, develop normative values for clinical and research use, and assess the convergence of self-reports with sensor-based measures. Study 1 reports exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) on BPQ-SF autonomic symptom items from a large U.S. population-based online study (n = 2048). In study 2, BPQ-SF scores were examined for associations with heart period, respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), and skin conductance (SC) during seated leg lifts in a community sample (n = 62). Study 1 results supported a 2-factor supra- and sub-diaphragmatic autonomic symptom solution (CFA: RMSEA = .040, CFI = .99, TLI = .99), though a 1-factor solution also fit the data well (RMSEA = .080, CFI = .99, TLI = .99). In study 2, HP responses to leg lifts and rests were demonstrated at all autonomic symptom levels. However, low autonomic symptoms were associated with optimal ANS patterns of activation and recovery to baseline levels. Moderate symptoms were associated with prolonged sympathetic activation. The highest symptom levels were associated with impaired ANS coordination across activation and recovery. Results support the utility of self-reports of autonomic symptoms in research and clinical applications, with higher symptoms likely indicating autonomic impairment.

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Copyright © 2023 by the American Psychosomatic Society.

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Conflicts of Interest and Source of Funding: The authors have no financial conflicts of interest to declare. This work was supported by the United States Association for Body Psychotherapy (USABP) and the Chaja Foundation. The funders had no role in the design, data collection, analysis, or manuscript preparation.