Published online Jan 15, 2018. doi: 10.4239/wjd.v9.i1.33
Peer-review started: May 5, 2017
First decision: July 20, 2017
Revised: July 25, 2017
Accepted: November 25, 2017
Article in press: November 25, 2017
Published online: January 15, 2018
Processing time: 251 Days and 3.4 Hours
Individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus have a significantly higher risk of morbidity and mortality compared with those without diabetes mellitus. Cardiovascular diseases still remains the number one cause of death in persons with diabetes mellitus. Current efforts at reducing this risk include tight glycemic control, control of cardiovascular risk factors and weight reduction among others. Despite these measures, morbidity and mortality in diabetes mellitus still remains high. There is therefore the need for identifying other non-traditional risk factors to further reduce this risk. Resting heart rate has been associated with mortality in the general population. However the association of resting heart rate and mortality risk in diabetes mellitus is unclear.
There are several ways (pharmacological and non-pharmacological) that resting heart rate can be reduced. Establishing an association between resting heart rate and mortality in individuals with diabetes mellitus provides a whole new avenue and pathway for further reducing the high mortality risk associated with the disease.
This study used a large population of individuals with diabetes mellitus.
Heart rate was collected from baseline resting electrocardiogram and mortality (all-cause and CVD) was obtained from state and national death registry. Kaplan-Meier (K-M) and Cox proportional hazard analyses were used to assess the association.
The results show that a 1 standard deviation increase in resting heart rate is associated with a 20% increase in the risk mortality.
Resting heart rate is a risk factor for all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality in individuals with diabetes mellitus and may provide additional prognostic information.
Resting heart rate is a cheap ubiquitous vital sign that is obtained during every doctor’s visit. The information gleaned from this vital sign maybe be useful to guide therapy choices which will ultimately reduce mortality in this population.