How to Estimate the Optimal Heart Rate in Patients with Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction

Ideal heart rate (HR), particularly for those with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), remains unknown. We hypothesized that cardiac output would be maximum when the overlap between E-wave and A-wave at the trans-mitral flow is "zero" in the Doppler echocardiography. We retrospectively investigated the association among the overlap length between two waves, actual HR, and other echocardiographic parameters to construct a formula for estimating theoretically ideal HR among those with HFpEF. In total, 48 HFpEF patients were included (70-year-olds, 18 males). Given the results of multivariate linear regression analyses, the overlap length was estimated as follows: -1,050 + 8.4 × (HR [bpm]) + 0.6 × (deceleration time [millisecond]) + 1.7 × (A-width [millisecond]), which had a strong agreement with the actually measured overlap length (r = 0.86, P < 0.001). Theoretically ideal HR was calculated by substituting zero into the estimated overlap length as follows: 125 - 0.07 × (deceleration time [millisecond]) - 0.20 × (A-width [millisecond]). In the validation cohort including another 143 HFpEF patients, the estimated overlap using the formula again had a strong agreement with the actually measured overlap (r = 0.72, P < 0.001). In this study, we proposed a novel formula for calculating theoretically ideal HR, consisting of deceleration time and A-width, in the HFpEF cohort. Clinical implication to optimize the HR targeting the theoretically ideal HR should be investigated in prospective studies.