Heart Rate May Help Predict Cardiac Death

Faster heart rates from mild mental stress before exercise doubles the risk of sudden cardiac death in later life, researchers in France warn.

The study, published in the European Heart Journal, found that men whose heart rate increased the most during mild mental stress just before an exercise test had twice the risk of dying of a sudden heart attack in later life than men whose heart rate did not increase as much.

Study leader Xavier Jouven of the Hopital Europeen Georges Pompidou in Paris said that since taking a patient's pulse is an easy and inexpensive procedure, it suggests a way of identifying people who may be at increased risk.

The people who showed a higher heart rate increase with mild mental stress could be considered for additional investigations and for tailored preventive strategies, Jouven said.

Jouven and colleagues examined data from the Paris Prospective Study 1 of 7,746 French men, ages 42-53, employed as police officers. The men were given health examinations between 1967-1972 including electrocardiograms and physical examinations.

Their resting heart rate was measured, and then it was measured in the few minutes just before they took part in a bicycle exercise test.

The researchers found that men who had the highest increase in heart rate during mild mental stress -- increasing by more than 12 beats a minute -- had twice the risk of death compared to men who had the lowest increase in heart rate.