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Resting heart rate as a prognostic factor for mortality in patients with breast cancer

  • Epidemiology
  • Published:
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Abstract

Although elevated resting heart rate (RHR) has been shown to be associated with mortality in the general population and patients with certain diseases, no study has examined this association in patients with breast cancer. A total of 4786 patients with stage I–III breast cancer were retrospectively selected from the Severance hospital breast cancer registry in Seoul, Korea. RHR was measured at baseline and the mean follow-up time for all patients was 5.0 ± 2.5 years. Hazard ratios (HRs) with 95 % confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using Cox regression models. After adjustment for prognostic factors, patients in the highest quintile of RHR (≥85 beat per minute (bpm)) had a significantly higher risk of all-cause mortality (HR: 1.57; 95 %CI 1.05–2.35), breast cancer-specific mortality (HR: 1.69; 95 %CI 1.07–2.68), and cancer recurrence (HR: 1.49; 95 %CI 0.99–2.25), compared to those in the lowest quintile (≤67 bpm). Moreover, every 10 bpm increase in RHR was associated with 15, 22, and 6 % increased risk of all-cause mortality, breast cancer-specific mortality, and cancer recurrence, respectively. However, the association between RHR and cancer recurrence was not statistically significant (p = 0.26). Elevated RHR was associated with an increased risk of mortality in patients with breast cancer. The findings from this study suggest that RHR may be used as a prognostic factor for patients with breast cancer in clinical settings.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2015S1A5B8036349).

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

      Dong Hoon Lee & Edward L. Giovannucci

    2. Department of Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

      Dong Hoon Lee & Edward L. Giovannucci

    3. Department of Surgery, Yonsei University College of Medicine, 50 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, 120-752, Republic of Korea

      Seho Park, Sung Mook Lim, Joo Heung Kim & Seung Il Kim

    4. Frontier Research Institute of Convergence Sports Science, Yonsei University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

      Seho Park

    5. Department of Sport and Leisure Studies, Yonsei University, 50 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, 120-749, Republic of Korea

      Mi Kyung Lee & Justin Y. Jeon

    6. Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

      Edward L. Giovannucci

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    1. Dong Hoon Lee
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    Correspondence to Seung Il Kim or Justin Y. Jeon.

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    Dong Hoon Lee and Seho Park have equally contributed to this study.

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    Lee, D.H., Park, S., Lim, S.M. et al. Resting heart rate as a prognostic factor for mortality in patients with breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res Treat 159, 375–384 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-016-3938-1

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-016-3938-1

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