engleski

Heart rate in general population

BACKGROUND: Heart rate (HR), although often neglected, is identified as a potential independent cardiovascular risk factor. Some studies found differences in HR between hypertensives (HT), prehypertensives (PH) and normotensives(NT), while others observed opposite. OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to analyze HR considering the blood pressure (BP) categories, in adults included in our epidemiologic survey. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Nine hundred and nineteen untreated subjects (407 men and 512 women) were enrolled on the door-to-door basis. BP and HR were measured according to the ESH/ESC guidelines. Subjects were classified into groups as follows: I <120/80 mmHg ; II 120-129/80-84 mmHg ; III 130- 139/85-89 mmHg ; IV 140-160/90-109 mmHg ; V 160-180/100-110 mmHg ; VI >180/110 mmHg ; VII systolic BP>140 and diastolic BP<90 mmHg. ANOVA and LSD posthoc analysis were used. RESULTS: Significant differences in HR were observed between I (77.07±9.96) vs. IV (79.61±12.30) and V (79.61±12.30) (p=0.026 ; 0.05, respectively) ; II vs. IV and V (p=0.007 ; 0.021 respectively). Significant difference in HR was also found between III and IV and V, p=0.026 ; 0.046, respectively). There were no differences in HR among I and II vs. group III (p=0.707 ; 0.824, respectively). CONCLUSION: HR was significantly higher in HT (stage I) than in NT and PH. We failed to find difference in HR values among NT and PH groups. Increased HR could contribute to higher risk in early phase of hypertension compared to prehypertension. Further analyses are needed to explain the role of HR in prehypertension.

heart rate; general population

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