You are here

  • Home
  • Archive
  • Volume 64, Issue 2
  • Combined effect of resting heart rate and physical activity on ischaemic heart disease: mortality follow-up in a population study (the HUNT study, Norway)

Article Text

Article menu
Download PDFPDF
Research report
Combined effect of resting heart rate and physical activity on ischaemic heart disease: mortality follow-up in a population study (the HUNT study, Norway)
  1. J Nauman1,2,
  2. T Ivar Lund Nilsen3,
  3. U Wisløff1,2,
  4. L J Vatten2,4
  1. 1Department of Circulation and Medical Imaging, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
  2. 2St. Olav's University Hospital, Trondheim, Norway
  3. 3Human Movement Science Programme, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
  4. 4Department of Public Health, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
  1. Correspondence to Mr J Nauman, Department of Circulation and Medical Imaging, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Olav Kyrres gate 9, Trondheim 7489, Norway; javaid.nauman{at}ntnu.no

Abstract

Background The combined effect of resting heart rate (RHR) and physical activity (PA) on ischaemic heart disease (IHD) has never been assessed. The objective of this study was to assess the association of RHR with IHD mortality, and to evaluate the potentially modifying effect of PA on this association.

Methods In a prospective cohort study of 24 999 men and 25 089 women free from cardiovascular disease at baseline, Cox proportional hazard models were used to estimate adjusted hazard ratios of death from IHD related to RHR measured at baseline. The combined effect of RHR and self-reported PA on the risk of death from IHD was also assessed.

Results During a mean of 18.2 (SD 4) years of follow-up, 2566 men and 1814 women died from cardiovascular causes. For each increment of 10 heart beats per minute, risk of death from IHD was 18% higher in women <70 years of age (p<0.001); no such association was observed among women ≥70 years. Among men, there was a corresponding 10% higher risk in the younger (p = 0.004), and 11% higher risk in the older age group (p = 0.01). Among women, the risk associated with high RHR was substantially attenuated in those who reported a high level of PA, whereas in men, there was no clear indication that PA could modify the positive effect of RHR.

Conclusion RHR is positively associated with the risk of death from IHD, and among women, the results suggest that by engaging in PA, the risk associated with a high RHR may be substantially reduced.

https://doi.org/10.1136/jech.2009.093088

Statistics from Altmetric.com

    Request Permissions

    If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

    View Full Text

    Footnotes

    • Funding The present study was supported by grants from the Norwegian Council of Cardiovascular Disease, the Norwegian Research Council (Funding for Outstanding Young Investigators, UW), Funds for Cardiovascular and Medical Research at St. Olav's University Hospital, Trondheim, and the Torstein Erbo's Foundation, Trondheim. Role of the funding source: The funding organisations had no role in the design and conduct of the study; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of the data; or in the preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript.

    • Competing interests None.

    • Ethics approval Regional committee for ethics in medical research and by the Norwegian Data Inspectorate.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; not externally peer reviewed.