[Lowest heart rate and pauses in adults with healthy hearts]

The lowest heart rate measured in a one minute period (HRmin) and prevalence of pauses, was determined with eight years interval, in two 24 hour Holter Monitorings, in 183 persistently healthy adults aged 40 to 85 years. For the individual, HRmin is a stable parameter, but the level depends on sex, smoking and physical activity habits. Independently of age, HRmin less than 40 beats per minute and pauses greater than or equal to 2.0 seconds are rare events, and should be considered abnormal.