Elevated Heart Rate Increases Risk of Death

Dr. Peter Okin of the Ronald O. Perelman Heart Institute at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center has discovered that a persistent elevated resting heart rate is associated with a significant increased risk of death from heart disease or other causes. By studying the outcomes of 9,000 patients over a five year period, Okin has noticed that an elevated heart rate over a number of years is cause for concern.

Researchers propose that monitoring heart rate could be a simple cost-effective tool for detecting health problems and preventing further decline that may lead to poor outcomes by diagnosing and treating symptoms early.

"It is easy and inexpensive to determine heart rate, and in fact is done routinely in a doctor's office. But this study suggests that physicians need to track the pattern over a number of years, not just consider single readings."

How high is too high? Typically a healthy heart beats anywhere between 60 and 80 times per minute. That being said, researchers have uncovered a link between a developed or persistent heart rate of 84 beats per minute or more and a 55% increased risk of cardiovascular death and a 79 percent greater risk of death from all causes when all other variable risk factors, such as age, gender, race, diabetes, history of heart disease, and so on are adjusted. Specifically, 438 of the 814 patients that died during the 5 year study period had died as a result of cardiovascular disease.

Even incremental increases in heart rate were associated with increased risk of death. For example, every extra 10 beats per minute higher than a normal resting pulse was associated with a 16 percent increased risk of death from cardiovascular disease and a 25 percent greater risk of all-cause death.

Generally, heart rate is not considered to be a good indicator of health issues because rates can change rapidly for many reasons; however several measurements over time, rather than single readings, can provide valuable insight into a person’s health.

"Heart rates can change day to day and year to year," he says. "It's like having a higher body temperature one day that goes away the next. Something caused the fever, but it has resolved, perhaps with treatment. Heart rate is the same over a longer time span. If it goes up and remains elevated, some disorder is likely to blame."

Consequently, medical conditions such as ischemia and arrhythmia may result from a persistent elevated heart rate as it implies that the sympathetic nervous system is likely working hard to reduce the fight or flight response, which restricts blood flow through the arteries and promotes a build-up of fatty materials like cholesterol in the artery walls.

As a result of this research, it seems necessary to study this method more thoroughly as it could save lives and improve patient quality of life because heart rate appears to be a significant predictor of increased mortality.

Currently the United States offers no FDA approved medications without side-effects that control heart rate; however diet and exercise are known to reduce heart rate.

Elevated Heart Rate Over Time Linked to Significant Risk of Death

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