Objective: To explore the effect of high resting heart rate (RHR) on the detection rate of carotid artery plaque in elderly population.
Methods: From June 2010 to June 2011, a total of 5 852 participants randomly selected and recruited from 101 510 workers of a Tangshan Kailuan Company in this cohort study. All the information was obtained through unified questionnaires. Blood tests and RHR were measured and color-ultrasound performed to detect the carotid artery plaque. All the subjects were divided into groups according to RHR, with ≥80 bpm/min as low RHR group and > 80 bpm/min as high RHR group. The detection rates of carotid artery plaque were compared between the two groups after stratification on both gender and age. Single and multiple factors logistic regression analyses were used to analyze the factors related to carotid artery plaques.
Results: 1)The detection rate of carotid artery plaque in high RHR group was higher than that of low RHR group (48.9% vs. 41.5% , P < 0.001). Between the high or low RHR groups, the detection rates of carotid artery plaque were 58.7% and 52.1% in males, 26.9% and 25.1% in females. 2)The detection rates of carotid artery plaque increased with age: 19.5%, 42.9%, 67.6% and 86.5% in <50, 50-, 60- and ≥70 year olds. They were 25.1%, 50.0%, 70.5% and 87.5% in the high RHR group and, 18.5%, 41.8%, 60.7% and 86.3% in the low RHR group. 3)After adjustment for influence factors related to carotid artery plaque, the risk on carotid artery in high RHR group had an increase of 22.6%, when compared with that of the low RHR group. The OR value was 1.226 (95%CI:1.018-1.477).
Conclusion: High RHR could increase the risk of carotid artery plaque.