THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RESTING HEART-RATE AND ALL-CAUSE, CARDIOVASCULAR AND CANCER MORTALITY

Aims The association between resting heart rate and changes in heart r ate with all-cause, cardiovascular and cancer mortality was studied am ong 1827 men and 2929 women, aged 40-80 years, followed for 12 years. Methods and results After adjustment for initial age, serum cholestero l, body mass index, systolic blood pressure, smoking and diabetes, the all-cause mortality hazard ratio was 1.7 (95% confidence interval 1.4 -2.2) for heart rate increments of 20 beats.min(-1) for men and 1.4 (c onfidence interval 1.1-1.8) for women. For cardiovascular mortality, t he risk estimates were 1.7 (confidence interval 1.2-2.6) for men and 1 .3 (confidence interval 0.9-2.0) for women. We observed no significant association between heart rate and cancer mortality. For women, stron ger predictive information for all-cause mortality was provided if cha nges in heart rate were evident at the 2-year review. Conclusion The r esting heart rate is a. predictor of mortality, independent of major c ardiovascular risk factors.