Metabolic syndrome is associated with delayed heart rate recovery after exercise.
Heart rate (HR) recovery after exercise is a function of vagal reactivation, and its impairment is a predictor of overall mortality and adverse cardiovascular events. While metabolic syndrome is associated with sympathetic overactivity, little is known about the relationship between metabolic syndrome and HR recovery. A symptom-limited exercise stress test in healthy subjects (n=1, 434) was used to evaluate HR recovery. Metabolic syndrome was defined according to the National Cholesterol Education Program's Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP ATP-III) criteria. Seventeen percent of subjects had > or =3 criteria for metabolic syndrome. HR recovery was lower in men than women and in smokers than nonsmokers. The subject with metabolic syndrome (vs. without) showed lower HR recovery (10.3+/-11.6 vs. 13.6+/-9.7 per minute) and higher resting HR (64.3+/-10.3 vs. 61.6+/-9.1 per minute). HR recovery correlated inversely to age (r=-0.25, p<0.0001), but not to resting HR or maximal oxygen uptake. Delayed HR recovery was associated with metabolic syndrome after an adjustment for age, sex, resting HR and smoking (p<0.01). Metabolic syn-drome is associated with impaired vagal reactivation. Adverse cardiovascular out-comes associated with metabolic syndrome may be mediated by the failure of vagal reactivation in addition to sympathetic overactivity.
Sung
Jidong
J
Center for Health Promotion, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Jung-gu, Seoul, Korea.
Choi
Yoon-Ho
YH
Park
Jeong Bae
JB
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000378:metabolism; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D015992:Body Mass Index; D008076:Cholesterol, HDL / Q000097:blood; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology*; D005215:Fasting / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000097:blood / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010101:Oxygen Consumption / Q000502:physiology; D012737:Sex Factors; D012907:Smoking; D016138:Walking / Q000502:physiology
D001786:Blood Glucose; D008076:Cholesterol, HDL