Beware of elevated resting heart rate, scientists warn. Such elevated levels, if they persist during follow-up, could lead to death, whether from heart disease or other causes, say researchers from the Ronald O. Perelman Heart Institute at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center.
The findings, published July 2 online in the
European Heart Journal, suggest that tracking heart rate over time can provide a profoundly simple and important marker of health issues that could become lethal but which also might be prevented with diagnosis and treatment. They had studied outcomes in more than 9,000 patients for their research.
It is easy and inexpensive to determine heart rate, and in fact is done routinely in a doctors office. But this study suggests that physicians need to track the pattern over a number of years, not just consider single readings, says the studys lead investigator, Dr. Peter Okin, a noted cardiologist at the Ronald O. Perelman Heart Institute of NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell and professor of medicine in the Division of Cardiology at Weill Cornell Medical College.
Based on this study, we believe that an elevated heart rate seen over a number of years is worrisome, signifying that these patients need further evaluation to see what might be causing the high heart rate, he says.
In their study, researchers discovered that development of a heart rate of 84 beats per minute or greater that either developed or persisted in patients during the studys average five-year time span was linked to a 55 percent greater risk of cardiovascular death and a 79 percent greater risk of death from all causes. Although the participants had hypertension, the scientists adjusted for this fact as well as for other cardiovascular risk factors. A healthy heart rate is between 60 and 80 beats per minute.