The impact of time-updated resting heart rate on cause-specific mortality in a random middle-aged male population: a lifetime follow-up

Temporal Changes in Resting Heart Rate and Risk of Diabetes Mellitus

BACKGRUOUND

To investigate the association between the time-varying resting heart rate (RHR) and change in RHR (∆RHR) over time and the risk of diabetes mellitus (DM) by sex.

METHODS

We assessed 8,392 participants without DM or atrial fibrillation/flutter from the Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study, a community-based prospective cohort study that was initiated in 2001 to 2002. The participants were followed up until December 31, 2018. Updating RHR with biennial in-study re-examinations, the time-varying ∆RHR was calculated by assessing the ∆RHR at the next follow-up visit.

RESULTS

Over a median follow-up of 12.3 years, 1,345 participants (16.2%) had DM. As compared with RHR of 60 to 69 bpm, for RHR of ≥80 bpm, the incidence of DM was significantly increased for both male and female. A drop of ≥5 bpm in ∆RHR when compared with the stable ∆RHR group (-5< ∆RHR <5 bpm) was associated significantly with lower risk of DM in both male and female. However, an increase of ≥5 bpm in ∆RHR was significantly associated with higher risk of DM only in female, not in male (hazard ratio for male, 1.057 [95% confidence interval, 0.869 to 1.285]; and for female, 1.218 [95% confidence interval, 1.008 to 1.471]).

CONCLUSION

In this community-based longitudinal cohort study, a reduction in ∆RHR was associated with a decreased risk of DM, while an increase in ∆RHR was associated with an increased risk of DM only in female.

Effects of temporal changes in resting heart rate on future diabetes-related outcomes

Background and aims

Most studies have analyzed the relationship between resting heart rate (RHR) measured at only one time point and future clinical events. The current study aims to investigate the impact of long-term RHR changes on future clinical outcomes in a decade-long cohort with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

Methods

The two-staged follow-up involved 2,513 T2DM participants. The first stage (2008-2014) intended to identify levels and trends in RHR changes, while the second stage (2014-2018) attempted to collect new occurrence records of clinical results. Cox proportional hazards models were applied to predict hazard ratios (HRs), along with 95% confidence interval (CI) for the correlation between RHR changes and future events.

Results

There is no significant correlation between baseline RHR levels and long-term clinical events. According to the range of RHR change, compared with the stable RHR group, the adjusted HRs for cardiovascular events and all-cause death in the large increase group were 3.40 (95% CI: 1.33-8.71, p=0.010) and 3.22 (95% CI: 1.07-9.64, p=0.037), respectively. While the adjusted HRs for all-cause death and major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events (MACCE) in the moderate decrease group were 0.55 (95% CI: 0.31-0.96, p=0.037) and 0.51 (95% CI: 0.26-0.98, p=0.046). According to the trend of RHR, compared with the normal-normal group, the adjusted HRs for composite endpoint events and cerebrovascular events in the normal-high group were 1.64 (95% CI: 1.00-2.68, p=0.047) and 2.82 (95% CI: 1.03-7.76, p=0.043), respectively.

Conclusion

Changes in RHR had predictive value for long-term clinical events in diabetic populations. Individuals with significantly elevated RHR over a particular period of time showed an increased risk of adverse events.

Night-Time Non-dipping Blood Pressure and Heart Rate: An Association With the Risk of Silent Small Vessel Disease in Patients Presenting With Acute Ischemic Stroke

Background and Purpose: Nocturnal non-dipping blood pressure and heart rate are associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. The effects of such variance on cerebrovascular disease have not been well studied.

Methods: The 24-h ambulatory blood pressure (ABPM) and heart rate were monitored with B-pro in patients with acute stroke within the initial week of hospital admission. The risk factor profiles, clinical presentation, imaging, and short-term prognosis were compared in nocturnal dippers and non-dippers (more than 10% nocturnal decrease) of blood pressure and heart rate.

Results: We enrolled 234 patients in whom ABPM and MRI data were available. Heart rate data were available in 180 patients. Lacunar sub-cortical stroke was the most common acute lesion (58.9%), while hypertension (74%) and diabetes (41.5%) were the most common associated risk factors. ABPM revealed non-dipping in 69% of patients. On univariate analysis, Small Vessel Disease (SVD) was significantly more frequent in non-dippers vs. dippers (BP: 56.8 vs. 40.3% p = 0.02; heart rate: 57.9 vs. 40.7% p = 0.03). Silent strokes were also more frequent in non-dippers vs. dippers (BP: 40.7 vs. 26.4% p = 0.35; heart rate: 44.6 vs. 25.4% p = 0.01). Multivariate analysis revealed SVD to be significantly related to age, hypertension, blood pressure non-dipping, and severity of symptoms at index event.

Conclusions: The presence of nocturnal non-dipping of blood pressure and heart rate are associated with an increased risk of silent stroke and SVD. Increased use of ABPM may allow for improved diagnosis of non-dippers.

Admission Resting Heart Rate as an Independent Predictor of All-Cause Mortality in Elderly Patients with Hip Fracture

Purpose

To investigate the relationship between admission resting heart rate (RHR) and all-cause mortality in elderly patients with hip fracture.

Methods

A retrospective cohort study with 837 patients based on the established hip fracture database was conducted. Admission RHR was measured via electrocardiogram, and patients were grouped by the median RHR value (beats per minute, bpm). The main outcomes were 1-year and total all-cause mortality. Cox proportional hazard models and restricted cubic spline were used to assess the relationship between RHR and mortality. Sensitivity analyses were further performed to determine whether the results were stable.

Results

The mean and median RHR were 82.3 and 80.0 bpm, respectively. After a median follow-up of 31.8 months, the 1-year and total all-cause mortality were 17.6% and 31.2%. Multivariable Cox analyses showed that high RHR was an independent risk factor for 1-year mortality (HR = 1.51; 95% CI: 1.08–2.13; p = 0.016), and total mortality (HR = 1.44; 95% CI: 1.12–1.85; p = 0.005). For each 10 bpm increase in RHR, the risk of 1-year death increased by 23.0% (HR = 1.23; 95% CI: 1.09–1.39; p = 0.001), and total death increased by 21.0% (HR = 1.21; 95% CI: 1.09–1.34; p < 0.001). A typical J-shaped curve was observed in the restricted cubic spline for the association between RHR and 1-year mortality, with the lowest mortality risk at 70 bpm. Sensitivity analyses yielded similar findings.

Conclusion

An increase in RHR was independently associated with all-cause mortality, and may be a useful prognostic predictor for elderly patients with hip fracture.

Sudden cardiac death among Iranian population: a two decades follow-up of Tehran lipid and glucose study

Sudden cardiac death (SCD) is described as death within one hour, if observed, from the onset of symptoms, and within 24 h of being alive and well if not observe. Study population includes 3705 men and 4446 women, aged ≥ 30 years. Multivariable Cox proportional hazard models were used to determine the risk factors associated with SCD. After a median follow-up of 17.9 years, 244 SCD (165 in males) occurred. The age-standardized incidence rate (95% confidence intervals (CI)) of SCD was 2.3 (2.1-2.7) per 1000 person-year. Current smoking [Hazard ratio (HR): 2.43, 95% CI: 1.73-3.42], high waist circumference [1.49: 1.04-2.12], hypertension [1.39: 1.05-1.84], type 2 diabetes mellitus [2.78: 2.09-3.69], pulse rate ≥ 90 beats per/minute [1.72: 1.22-2.42] and prevalent cardiovascular disease [1.75: 1.26-2.45] were significant risk factors. The corresponding population attributed fractions (PAF) were 14.30, 16.58, 14.03, 19.60, 7.62, and 8.30, respectively. Being overweight [0.58: 0.40-0.83] and obese [0.61: 0.38-0.98] decreased the risk of SCD. After excluding known diabetes cases from our data analysis, the newly diagnosed diabetes still showed an HR of 2.0 (1.32-3.00) with a PAF of 7.15% in the full adjustment model. To deal with sudden death as a catastrophic outcome, multi-component strategies by policy health makers are suggested.