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Elevated heart rate in cardiovascular diseases: a target for treatment?

Paolo Palatini1

  • 1Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Padova, Padova, Italy. palatini@unipd.it

Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases
|July 21, 2009
PubMed

Insights

Reducing heart rate is a proven treatment for cardiac disorders and may prevent atherosclerosis. Further research is needed for healthy individuals, but lowering heart rate is beneficial in hypertension and diabetes.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiology
  • Pharmacology
  • Preventive Medicine

Background:

  • Elevated heart rate significantly impacts myocardial oxygen consumption and cardiac workload.
  • High heart rate is increasingly recognized as a risk factor for atherosclerosis.
  • Current guidelines accept heart rate reduction for coronary syndromes and heart failure.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review the role of heart rate reduction in cardiovascular health.
  • To evaluate the potential benefits of pharmacologic heart rate lowering.
  • To assess the risk-benefit profile of cardiac slowing in various patient populations.

Main Methods:

  • Review of existing experimental and clinical research.
  • Analysis of retrospective data from major cardiovascular studies (e.g., INternational VErapamil-SR/trandolapril STudy, Paris Prospective Study 1).
  • Evaluation of heart rate as a therapeutic target.

Main Results:

  • Heart rate reduction is an established strategy for managing cardiac disorders.
  • Pharmacologic heart rate lowering shows potential in preventing or slowing atherosclerosis.
  • Retrospective analyses suggest favorable outcomes with heart rate reduction, even in non-cardiac conditions.

Conclusions:

  • Heart rate reduction is a validated therapeutic approach for established cardiac diseases.
  • While premature for healthy subjects, lowering heart rate is a valuable adjunct therapy in hypertension and diabetes.
  • Further human studies are warranted to confirm efficacy and safety in diverse populations.

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