Resting heart rate, heart rate variability and functional decline in old age

Abstract

E levated heart rate and reduced heart rate variability -the beat-to-beat variation in heart rate intervals -both reflect an altered balance of the autonomic nervous system tone characterized by increased sympathetic and/ or decreased parasympathetic activity.1-3 Sympathetic overactivity has been linked to a procoagulant state and also to risk factors for atherosclerosis, including metabolic syndrome, obesity and subclinical inflammation.2-4 Moreover, increased heart rate is related to atherosclerosis, not only as an epiphenomenon of sympathetic overactivity, but also through hemodynamic mechanisms, such as high pulsatile shear stress, which leads to endothelial dysfunction. 5Atherosclerosis has been linked to increased risk of functional decline in older people via cardiovascular events. 6 As the world population is aging, the burden of functional disability is expected to increase.6 It has been hypothesized that heart rate and heart rate variability are markers of frailty, an increased vulnerability to stressors and functional decline. 7 However, the direct link between these 2 parameters and risk of functional decline has not been fully established, and it is uncertain whether this association is independent of cardiovascular comorbidities.In this study, we examined whether heart rate and heart rate variability were cross-sectionally and longitudinally associated with functional status in older adults at high risk of cardiovascular disease, independent of cardiovascular risk factors and comorbidities. Methods Study design and participants

Late-Life Vascular Risk Factors and Alzheimer Disease Neuropathology in Individuals with Normal Cognition

“…Resting HR has clinical utility in cardiovascular disease populations and is associated with cognitive decline in post-stroke patients and individuals with high cardiovascular risk (44,45). Limited research has examined resting HR as it relates to aging and neurodegenerative disease although 1 study found higher resting HR to predict worse functional status in older adults independent of cardiovascular disease (46). Regardless, resting HR is easily influenced by an array of external (eg caffeine) and internal (eg anxiety) stimuli, limiting its reliability, particularly in cross-sectional assessments.…”

Association between resting heart rate and coronary artery disease, stroke, sudden death and noncardiovascular diseases: a meta-analysis

“…1 High natural resting heart rate is associated with traditional risk factors for cardiovascular diseases, levels of inflammatory markers [2][3][4] and functional decline, 5 which suggests that resting heart rate might be related to the risk of various disease states. We previously found that resting heart rate was an independent predictor of total mortality related to cardiovascular disease in the general population.…”

Correlation of Resting Heart Rate with Anthropometric Factors and Serum Biomarkers in a Population-based Study: Fasa PERSIAN Cohort Study

“…A significant negative correlation of aging with heart rate have been described by Ogliari et al in 2015. [43] In this context, several studies have suggested that age could related with RHR. [22,[44][45][46][47] We demonstrated that there is a strong negative association between aging and RHR which is independent of other cardiovascular risk factors in both sex.…”