Pulse linked to heart attacks

Published on Tuesday 3 February 2009 21:43

THE speed of a woman's heartbeat could predict how likely she is to suffer a heart attack, researchers said.

Experts followed 130,000 post-menopausal women for about eight years for the study, published online in the British Medical Journal.

None of the women had a history of heart problems and factors that may affect heart rate, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, smoking and alcohol, were taken into account.

At the start of the research, women sat quietly for five minutes before a trained observer measured their heart rate.

Over the study period, 2,281 women suffered a heart attack or death related to heart disease and there were 1,877 strokes.

The results showed that women with the highest resting heart rate (more than 76 beats per minute) were significantly likelier to suffer a heart attack or death than women with the lowest resting heart rate (62 beats per minute or fewer).

There was no link between resting heart rate and stroke.

Analysis showed that the association with heart disease was independent of the amount of exercise taken.