The Product of Resting Heart Rate Times Blood Pressure Is Associated with High Brachial-Ankle Pulse Wave Velocity

OBJECTIVE: To investigate potential associations between resting heart rate, blood pressure and the product of both, and the brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) as a maker of arterial stiffness. METHODS: The community-based “Asymptomatic Polyvascular Abnormalities in Community (APAC) Study” examined asymptomatic polyvascular abnormalities in a general Chinese population and included participants with an age of 40+ years without history of stroke and coronary heart disease. Arterial stiffness was defined as baPWV≥1400 cm/s. We measured and calculated the product of resting heart rate and systolic blood pressure (RHR-SBP) and the product of resting heart rate and mean arterial pressure (RHR-MAP). RESULTS: The study included 5153 participants with a mean age of 55.1±11.8 years. Mean baPWV was 1586±400 cm/s. Significant (P<0.0001) linear relationships were found between higher baPWV and higher resting heart rate or higher arterial blood pressure, with the highest baPWV observed in individuals from the highest quartiles of resting heart rate and blood pressure. After adjusting for confounding parameters such as age, sex, educational level, body mass index, fasting blood concentrations of glucose, blood lipids and high-sensitive C-reactive protein, smoking status and alcohol consumption, prevalence of arterial stiffness increased significantly (P<0.0001) with increasing RHR-SBP quartile (Odds Ratio (OR): 2.72;95%Confidence interval (CI):1.46,5.08) and increasing RHR-MAP (OR:2.10;95%CI:1.18,3.72). Similar results were obtained in multivariate linear regression analyses with baPWV as continuous variable. CONCLUSIONS: Higher baPWV as a marker of arterial stiffness was associated with a higher product of RHR-SBP and RHR-MAP in multivariate analysis. In addition to other vascular risk factors, higher resting heart rate in combination with higher blood pressure are risk factors for arterial stiffness.