Heart rate as a predictor of mortality: the MATISS project.
OBJECTIVE
This study sought to verify the independent role of heart rate in the prediction of all-cause, cardiovascular, and noncardiovascular mortality in a low-risk male population.


METHODS
In an Italian population-based observational study, heart rate was measured in 2533 men, aged 40 to 69 years, between 1984 and 1993. Data on cardiovascular risk factors were collected according to standardized procedures. Vital status was updated to December 1997.


RESULTS
Of 2533 men followed up (representing 24,457 person-years), 393 men died. Age-adjusted death rates for 5 heart rate levels showed increasing trends. The adjusted hazard rate ratios for each heart rate increment were 1.52 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.29, 1.78) for all-cause mortality, 1.63 (95% CI = 1.26, 2.10) for cardiovascular mortality, and 1.47 (95% CI = 1.19, 1.80) for noncardiovascular mortality. Relative risks between extreme levels were more than 2-fold for all endpoints considered.


CONCLUSIONS
Heart rate is an independent predictor of cardiovascular, noncardiovascular, and total mortality in this Italian middle-aged male population.
Seccareccia
F
F
Laboratory of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Viale Regina Elena, 299, I-00161 Rome, Italy. fulvias@iss.it
Pannozzo
F
F
Dima
F
F
Minoprio
A
A
Menditto
A
A
Lo Noce
C
C
Giampaoli
S
S
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000032:analysis; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000401:mortality; D002423:Cause of Death; D048909:Diabetes Complications; D005540:Forced Expiratory Flow Rates; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009026:Mortality; D010865:Pilot Projects; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects; D013610:Tachycardia / Q000150:complications*
D001786:Blood Glucose