Epidemiologic evidence suggests that a high resting heart rate is a risk factor for mortality and cardiovascular outcomes both in the general population and in patients with cardiovascular disease. Normally, the resting heart rate for adults range from 60 to 70 beats per minute, but it is also depending on lifestyle, physical activity and genetics. A resting heart rate over 85 beats per minute is a risk factor. A study from Helseundersøkelsen i Nord-Trøndelag (HUNT) showed that for each increment of 10 heart beats per minute risk of death from iscemich heart disease was 18 % higher in women <70 years of age. Among men the corresponding increase in risk was 10 %. Heart rate measurements are easy to obtain, and serial assessment of resting heart rate may be used as an important prognostic marker in both primary and secondary cardiovascular prevention. In this video blog Javaid Nauman, post doc. at the Cardiac Exercise Research Group, NTNU, will tell more about research on resting heart rate and its effect on cardiovascular health.
You can also read more about resting heart rate in the attached summary Heart rate – the lower the better? written by Javaid Nauman.
