Resting heart rate as a low tech predictor of coronary events in women: prospective cohort study.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate resting heart rate as an independent predictor of cardiovascular risk in women.


METHODS
Prospective cohort study.


METHODS
The Women's Health Initiative was undertaken at 40 research clinics in the United States.


METHODS
129 135 postmenopausal women.


METHODS
Clinical cardiovascular events.


RESULTS
During a mean of 7.8 (SD 1.6) years of follow up, 2281 women were identified with myocardial infarction or coronary death and 1877 with stroke. We evaluated associations between resting heart rate and cardiovascular events in Cox regression models adjusted for multiple covariates. Higher resting heart rate was independently associated with coronary events (hazard ratio 1.26, 95% confidence interval 1.11 to 1.42 for highest [>76 beats per minute] v lowest quintile [<or=62 beats per minute]; P=0.001), but not with stroke. The relation between heart rate and coronary events did not differ between white women and women from other ethnic groups (P for interaction=0.45) or between women with and without diabetes (P for interaction=0.31), but it was stronger in women aged 50-64 at baseline than in those aged 65-79 (P for interaction=0.009).


CONCLUSIONS
Resting heart rate, a low tech and inexpensive measure of autonomic tone, independently predicts myocardial infarction or coronary death, but not stroke, in women.


BACKGROUND
ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00000611.
Hsia
Judith
J
George Washington University, Washington, DC 20037, USA. judith.hsia@astrazeneca.com
Larson
Joseph C
JC
Ockene
Judith K
JK
Sarto
Gloria E
GE
Allison
Matthew A
MA
Hendrix
Susan L
SL
Robinson
Jennifer G
JG
LaCroix
Andrea Z
AZ
Manson
JoAnn E
JE
D000368:Aged; D016757:Death, Sudden, Cardiac / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D017698:Postmenopause / Q000502:physiology; D011379:Prognosis; D012146:Rest / Q000502:physiology; D020521:Stroke / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology