Abstract P319: Association of Heart Rate Reserve with Incidence of Hypertension in Men

Abstract

Abstract Objectives— We examined the association between heart rate reserve (HRR) and incident hypertension in men in the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study. Research design and Methods— A total of 10418 healthy normotensive men, who did not have an abnormal electrocardiogram or a history of heart attack, stroke, cancer, or diabetes, performed a maximal treadmill exercise test and were followed for the incidence of hypertension. HRR was defined as the difference between maximal heart rate during exercise test and resting heart rate. Results— During a mean follow-up of 6 years, there were 2831 cases of incident hypertension. Compared with men in the reference category (the lowest quartile of HRR), the risk of incident hypertension was significantly lower in the highest quartile of HRR with a hazard ratio 0.67 (95% CI: 0.60-0.75) when adjusted for age and baseline examination year. Further adjustment for smoking, heavy drinking, body mass index (BMI), resting systolic and diastolic blood pressure, cholesterol, blood glucose and cardio respiratory fitness, resulted a hazard ratio of 0.84 (95% CI:0.74-0.95). This result was almost similar when we stratified them into younger and older men with hazard ratio of 0.77(95% CI: 0.62-0.98) and 0.78 (95% CI: 0.66-0.90) respectively. We also found a significant lower hypertension risk associated with higher HRR among high risk groups such as overweight, low fitness, or prehypertension with hazard ratio of 0.82(95% CI:0.70-0.97), 0.80(95% CI:0.67-0.96), 0.76(95% CI:0.64-0.88) respectively. Conclusion— Risk of Incident hypertension was significantly lower in men with higher HRR. High HRR was also associated with lower risk of developing hypertension irrespective of age and status of risk factors such as high BMI, low fitness and prehypertension. Therefore, HRR may be considered as a reliable exercise parameter for predicting the risk of incident hypertension.