Heritability of heart rate recovery and vagal rebound after exercise.
OBJECTIVE
The prognostic power of heart rate recovery (HRR) after exercise has been well established but the exact origin of individual differences in HRR remains unclear. This study aims to estimate the heritability of HRR and vagal rebound after maximal exercise in adolescents. Furthermore, the role of voluntary regular exercise behavior (EB) in HRR and vagal rebound is tested.


METHODS
491 healthy adolescent twins and their siblings were recruited for maximal exercise testing, followed by a standardized cooldown with measurement of the electrocardiogram and respiratory frequency. Immediate and long-term HRR (HRR60 and HRR180) and vagal rebound (heart rate variability in the respiratory frequency range) were assessed 1 and 3 min after exercise. Multivariate twin modeling was used to estimate heritability of all measured variables and to compute the genetic contribution to their covariance.


RESULTS
Heritability of HRR60, HRR180 and immediate and long-term vagal rebound is 60 % (95 % CI: 48-67), 65 % (95 % CI: 54-73), 23 % (95 % CI: 11-35) and 3 % (95 % CI: 0-11), respectively. We find evidence for two separate genetic factors with one factor influencing overall cardiac vagal control, including resting heart rate and respiratory sinus arrhythmia, and a specific factor for cardiac vagal exercise recovery. EB was only modestly associated with resting heart rate (r = -0.27) and HRR (rHRR60 = 0.10; rHRR180 = 0.19) with very high genetic contribution to these associations (88-91 %).


CONCLUSIONS
Individual differences in HRR and immediate vagal rebound can to a large extent be explained by genetic factors. These innate cardiac vagal exercise recovery factors partly reflect the effects of heritable differences in EB.
Department of Biological Psychology, Faculty of behavioral and Movement Sciences, VU University Amsterdam, Van der Boechorststraat 1, 1081 BT, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. i.nederend@vu.nl.|EMGO + Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Center, Van der Boechorststraat 7, 1081 BT, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. i.nederend@vu.nl.|Department of Pediatric Cardiology, LUMC University Medical Center, Albinusdreef 2, 2333 ZA, Leiden, The Netherlands. i.nederend@vu.nl.
Ineke
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1873-9922
I
Nederend
Department of Biological Psychology, Faculty of behavioral and Movement Sciences, VU University Amsterdam, Van der Boechorststraat 1, 1081 BT, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.|EMGO + Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Center, Van der Boechorststraat 7, 1081 BT, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Nienke M
NM
Schutte
Department of Biological Psychology, Faculty of behavioral and Movement Sciences, VU University Amsterdam, Van der Boechorststraat 1, 1081 BT, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.|EMGO + Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Center, Van der Boechorststraat 7, 1081 BT, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Meike
M
Bartels
Department of Pediatric Cardiology, LUMC University Medical Center, Albinusdreef 2, 2333 ZA, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Arend D J
AD
Ten Harkel
Department of Biological Psychology, Faculty of behavioral and Movement Sciences, VU University Amsterdam, Van der Boechorststraat 1, 1081 BT, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.|EMGO + Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Center, Van der Boechorststraat 7, 1081 BT, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Eco J C
EJ
de Geus
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010807:Physical Endurance / Q000235:genetics; D020127:Recovery of Function / Q000235:genetics*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D056152:Respiratory Rate / Q000235:genetics; D065809:Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia / Q000235:genetics*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014427:Twins / Q000235:genetics*; D014630:Vagus Nerve / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
Exercise; Heart rate recovery; Heritability; Twin study