Prognostic value of home heart rate for cardiovascular mortality in the general population: the Ohasama study.
BACKGROUND
Recently, the advantages of self-measurement of blood pressure (BP) at home have been recognized. The same advantages could also be applicable to resting heart rate (HR) values assessed at home using a device designed for home BP measurement. However, there have been no studies investigating whether home HR values predict the risk of cardiovascular disease mortality. We therefore investigated the usefulness of HR values in predicting cardiovascular mortality using a device that allowed self-measurement of BP and HR at home.


METHODS
The association between the home-measured resting HR and the 10-year risk of cardiovascular mortality was examined in 1780 Japanese individuals >/=40 years of age who had no significant arrhythmias. A Cox proportional hazards model that adjusted for major risk factors was used.


RESULTS
An increase of 5 beats/min in the morning home HR measurement was associated with a 17% increase in the risk of cardiovascular mortality (95% confidence interval 5% to 30%). This relationship was also statistically significant after adjustment for home BP values. Even when home-measured systolic BP was within the normal range (<135 mm Hg), subjects with HR >/=70 beats/min had a higher risk of cardiovascular mortality (relative hazard 2.16, 95% confidence interval 1.21 to 3.85) than those with normal systolic BP and HR values.


CONCLUSIONS
Self-measurement of HR at home, together with self-measurement of BP, is a simple method of providing useful clinical information for assessing cardiovascular risk.
Hozawa
Atsushi
A
Department of Public Health, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Science, Sendai, Japan. hozawa@mail.tains.tohoku.ac.jp
Ohkubo
Takayoshi
T
Kikuya
Masahiro
M
Ugajin
Takashi
T
Yamaguchi
Junko
J
Asayama
Kei
K
Metoki
Hirohito
H
Ohmori
Kaori
K
Hoshi
Haruhisa
H
Hashimoto
Junichiro
J
Satoh
Hiroshi
H
Tsuji
Ichiro
I
Imai
Yutaka
Y
D000328:Adult; D001795:Blood Pressure Determination / Q000379:methods*; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000401:mortality*; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012016:Reference Values; D012648:Self Care