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Association between resting heart rate and cardiovascular risk factors in adolescents

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Abstract

This cross-sectional study was performed in 2011 and included 4619 Brazilian adolescents (14–19 years old) to analyze the association between elevated resting heart rate (RHR) and cardiovascular risk factors in boys and girls. RHR and blood pressure were measured using an oscillometric monitor. Overweight was assessed by body mass index and abdominal obesity by waist circumference. Physical activity levels and sedentary behaviors were obtained using a questionnaire. The effect of clustering of cardiovascular risk factors on RHR was analyzed. For boys, abdominal obesity (b = 0.106, p = 0.003), high sedentary behavior (b = 0.099, b < 0.001), physical inactivity (b = 0.049, p = 0.034), and high blood pressure (b = 0.160, p < 0.001) were associated with RHR, whereas for girls, only high blood pressure was associated with RHR (b = 0.259, p < 0.001), after adjustment for age, period of the day, and other cardiovascular risk factors. Boys with five risk factors presented significantly higher (p < 0.05) RHR values (82.5 ± 13.4 beats min−1) than those for boys without any cardiovascular risk factors (68.8 ± 10.4 beats min−1). The girls with five risk factors presented a mean RHR value of 89.8 ± 9.9 beats min−1 that was higher (p < 0.05) than that for girls who had no risk factors (79.6 ± 10.9 beats min−1).

Conclusions: Our study demonstrated that while RHR was associated with cardiovascular risk factors in both sexes, the clustering of risk factors amplified the elevation of RHR in a gender-dependent fashion.

What is Known:

• Resting heart rate is a marker of cardiovascular disease and mortality in adults and associated with risk factor such as higher levels of blood pressure, triglycerides, glucose, and obesity in children and adolescents.

What is New:

• The data from the current study suggest that the risk factor clustering is associated with elevated resting heart rate in adolescents and that the clustering of risk factors amplifies the elevation of resting heart rate in a gender-dependent fashion.

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Abbreviations

BMI:

Body mass index

CVD:

Cardiovascular disease

RHR:

Resting heart rate

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a grant (grant #481067/2010-8) from the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq). Additional support was provided by the Brazilian Federal Agency for Support and Evaluation of Graduate Education (CAPES).

BQ Farah was responsible for starting the writing of the manuscript. In addition, no person received any honorarium, grant, or other forms of payment to produce the manuscript.

Breno Quintella Farah conceptualized and designed the study, collected data, carried out the analyses, and drafted the initial manuscript.

Diego Giulliano Destro Christofaro conceptualized and designed the study, carried out the analyses, and reviewed the manuscript.

P. Babu Balagopal contributed to the interpretation of the data and reviewed the manuscript.

Bruno Remígio Cavalcante collected data and reviewed the manuscript.

Mauro Virgílio Gomes Barros designed the data collection instruments, coordinated and supervised data collection, and reviewed the manuscript.

Raphael M. Ritti-Dias designed the data collection instruments, coordinated and supervised data collection, conceptualized and designed the study, and reviewed the manuscript.

All the authors approved the final manuscript as submitted and agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate Program in Physical Education, University of Pernambuco, Recife, PE, Brazil

    Breno Quintella Farah, Bruno Remigio Cavalcante, Mauro Virgílio Gomes de Barros & Raphael Mendes Ritti-Dias

  2. Laboratory of Investigation in Exercise - LIVE, Department of Physical Education, University of Paulista State (UNESP), Presidente Prudente, SP, Brazil

    Diego Giulliano Destro Christofaro

  3. Nemours Children’s Clinic and Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Jacksonville, FL, USA

    P. Babu Balagopal

  4. Albert Einstein Hospital, Albert Einstein Avenue, 627, 05652-900, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil

    Raphael Mendes Ritti-Dias

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  1. Breno Quintella Farah
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Correspondence to Raphael Mendes Ritti-Dias.

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Communicated by Peter de Winter

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Farah, B.Q., Christofaro, D.G.D., Balagopal, P.B. et al. Association between resting heart rate and cardiovascular risk factors in adolescents. Eur J Pediatr 174, 1621–1628 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-015-2580-y

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