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Updated: Jun 21, 2026

Measuring Cardiac Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) Activity in Children
Published on: April 29, 2013
Age related reference ranges of heart rate for Saudi children and adolescents
Mansour M Al-Qurashi1, Mohammad I El-Mouzan, Abdullah S Al-Herbish
1Department of Pediatrics, Al-Yamamah Hospital, PO Box 60989, Riyadh 11555, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Tel. +966 (1) 4914444. Ext. 4030. Fax. +966 (1) 2083060.
Objective:
To evaluate the resting heart rate to define reference values for healthy Saudi children and adolescents.
Methods:
To establish representative heart rate (HR) reference values for Saudi Arabian children and adolescents, a sample of children, and adolescents was selected by multi-stage probability sampling of the Saudi population from birth to 20 years of age. The selected sample represents Saudi children from the whole country. Data were collected by a house-to-house survey of all selected households in all the 13 regions in the country. A total of 10,458 Saudi children were included in the study. The HR was measured by oscillometric-automated devices. Upper and lower reference values of the HR in boys and girls were calculated as mean +/= 2 SD. The study is cross-sectional, community based, and conducted over 2 years (2004-2005). Data management and analysis were performed in the College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Results:
Determination of the HR values in a sample representing healthy Saudi children and adolescents from birth to 20 years of age.
Conclusion:
The present study provides age-specific reference values for heart rate (HR) of Saudi children and adolescents based on a large study sample. The use of these standards should aid the identification of children with abnormal HR.
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