Heart Rate Recovery in Men with Angiographically Patent Coronary Arteries

[Purpose] Heart rate recovery (HRR), a recently recognized cardiovascular risk factor, is predominantly modulated by reactivation of vagal tone after exercise stops. Obesity causes autonomic dysfunction that may result in reduced HRR following exercise. We sought to determine whether obesity is associated with reduced HRR and possible influential factors. [Methods] Analyses were based on 62 men who had confirmed angiographically patent coronary arteries (PCA) and had reached 85% of their age-predicted maximal heart rate (MHR). Subjects were divided into 3 groups according to their body mass index (BMI): NOR (BMI<24), OW (24≤BMI<27), and OB (BMI≥27) as recommended by the Ministry of Health, Taiwan. HRR were defined as the difference between the MHR obtained during exercise and the HR at 1, 3, and 5 minutes after exercise stopped. After separating subjects into higher and lower HRR subgroups using the median as a cutoff point, logistical analysis was performed to provide odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of independent variables related to HRR. [Results] Subjects reached similar absolute work loads, but NOR reached a higher percentage of age-predicted MHR when compared with OW and OB. No significant difference was found in HRR after 1 minute. In logistic regression analyses, the higher HRR1 was mostly associated with a lower resting HR (OR 0.95, CI 0.91–0.98), and this was also found for HRR after 3 and 5 minutes. [Conclusion] There was no difference in HRR with different degrees of BMI in subjects with PCA. Resting HR was probably the most influential factor contributing to HRR.