Key result
Heart rate recovery shows low reproducibility across repeated stress tests in ~38% of healthy individuals.
Why the study?
The reproducibility of heart rate recovery in healthy individuals with slow heart rate recovery response undergoing routine annual checkups had not been determined.
Does heart rate recovery show reproducibility in healthy individuals undergoing repeated exercise stress tests over a 21-year follow-up?
Observational (n=113)
No
Does heart rate recovery show reproducibility in healthy individuals undergoing repeated exercise stress tests over a 21-year follow-up?
Heart rate recovery measured at 1 minute post-exercise has low reproducibility over long-term follow-up, suggesting that clinical interpretation based on a single exercise stress test should be taken with caution.
Objective: To examine the reproducibility of HRR in healthy individuals with slow HRR response undergoing routine annual checkups. Method: HRR data (>18 b/min; Group 1 and 18 b/min; Group 2) were analyzed using a fixed-effects regression model adjusted for age and gender, including random effects group-specific slopes on age. Results: One hundred and thirteen individuals (56.5 ± 9.2 y), underwent 573 cumulative ESTs with an average of 5.1 ± 1.6 tests per individual during a 21-year retrospective follow-up. No differences were found in anthropometric measurements and blood variables. All individuals achieved 94% ± 7.7% of age-predicted HR max at peak EST. Group 2 demonstrated 38% of inconsistent HRR. Regression analysis demonstrated a decrease of 0.5 b/min, on average across individuals, in HRR per each extra year of age. The random effects showed an inter-subject SD level of 9.91 b/min and an SD on the age slope of 0.40 b/min/year. Conclusion: HRR showed low reproducibility in nearly 40% of tests, which was not reflected by the variation of HR nor in the slope of age during a 21-year retrospective follow-up.
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Goldfarb et al. (2022) conducted an observational in Healthy individuals (n=113). Repeated Exercise Stress Tests (EST) vs. High HRR response (>18 b/min) vs Inconsistent HRR response was evaluated on Decrease in Heart Rate Recovery (HRR) per year of age (-0.50 b/min/year, p=<0.0001). Heart rate recovery showed low reproducibility, with 38% of healthy individuals demonstrating inconsistent responses across repeated exercise stress tests during a 21-year follow-up.
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