High heart rate linked to risk of early death by a study conducted by researchers from Qingdao University in China. According to their results people with a resting heart rate of over 80 beats per minute have a 45 percent higher risk of death than those that of people who had resting heart beat rates in between 60 and 80 beats per minute.
The resting heart rate refers to the heart beat rate each person has per minute during normal activity of the body and it is best tested in the morning, after the individual has just woken up. According to the American Heart Association, normal heart rates when the individual is resting in a seated or supine position (which means lying and facing upwards) should be between 60 and 100 beats per minute.
According to Dr. Dongfeng Zhang, from the University in Shandong in China, there is an association between the resting heart rate and the risk both cardiovascular and all-cause death.
The risk associated with the resting heart rate is, according to the study’s findings, independent of the traditional risk factors of cardiovascular disease, which would imply that, despite other risk factors such as the ones of cardiovascular disease or previously existing conditions, the resting heart rate is, in itself, a predictor of mortality in the general population.
It would seem, according to the study’s findings, that a higher resting heart rate could indicate an increased risk of premature mortality. However researchers have explained that the risks that a person has of dying solely because of having an elevated resting heart rate are very minimal.
In other words, while an increased resting heart rate would increase a person’s mortality risks in general, in is highly unlikely that a higher resting heart rate could end up being the cause of death in an individual.
The study was ample and observed 848,320 patients and 25,800 deaths which had resulted from heart disease. Researchers have concluded that, should the resting heart rate be too high, several methods can be employed in order to help prevent the increased risks of mortality associated with it.
Such methods include an increase in the person’s physical activity levels, which would help lower the risk of mortality by high resting heart rate levels. The study found that those with a resting heart rate of 80 beats per minute had an almost 45 percent higher risk of death from any cause and that those who has a resting heart rate of 60 beats per minute showed only a 21 percent increased risk.
However researchers have had to admit that their findings were limited since many external factors can affect the measurement of the resting heart rate.
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