Thanks for the add John. Not much additional to contribute; Neal Pollock and Richard Harris sum it up pretty well in the DAN article. I'm not aware of any peer-reviewed literature that compares increasing computer conservatism with breathing EAN for the same dive profile. Changing gradient factors adds another dimension to this question and makes it even harder to study. Some studies that have been done since the 2014 DAN article, for what they're worth:
A 2020 study that used 40% nitrox, possibly one of the ones that
@boulderjohn mentioned with a relatively small
n (13):
Effects of the hyperbaric environment on the autonomic nervous system (ANS) in recreational divers are not firmly settled. Aim of this exploratory study was to (1) assess ANS changes during scuba diving via recordings of electrocardiograms (ECG) and to (2) study whether nitrox40 better improves...
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
A 2016 study on divers who bubble a lot, which should be interpreted in the context of the study on the high degree of variability in venous gas emboli cited by Dr. Mitchell in
another recent thread:
ISRCTN 31681480.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Best regards,
DDM