title: Reproducibility of heart rate measured in the clinic and with 24-hour intermittent recorders.
abstract: This study was undertaken to assess the reproducibility of office versus ambulatory heart rates in 839 hypertensive subjects participating in the Hypertension and Ambulatory Recording Venetia Study (HARVEST). A 24-hour heart rate was recorded twice; this procedure was repeated three months later. Reproducibility was better for ambulatory than for office measurement, and was greater for 24-hour than for daytime heart rate, and lowest for night-time heart rate. Reproducibility of office heart rate was impaired above 85 bpm, and was poorer in subjects with more severe office hypertension. A small but significant decrease in average daytime (-1 bpm, P < 0.0001) and virtually no change in night-time heart rate (-0.3 bpm, NS) were observed at repeat recording. Heart rate reproducibility indices were related to the extent of the heart rate and blood pressure white-coat effect, but did not vary according to age, gender, body mass index, day-night blood pressure difference, or alcohol or tobacco use. Results indicate that heart rate recorded over the 24 hours has a better reproducibility than office heart rate, and could thus be a better prognostic indicator than traditional measurement of resting heart rate in the hospital setting.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Medicina Clinica e Sperimentale, University of Padova, Italy. palatini@ux1.unipd.it
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Palatini
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Winnicki
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Santonastaso
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: De Venuto
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zanata
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Bertolo
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Frigo
authors.forename: A C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Pessina
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D002940:Circadian Rhythm; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D018670:Monitoring, Ambulatory; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012727:Sex Characteristics