Normal resting heart rate
varies widely from person
to person
Analysis of massive data from wearable devices
compared heart beats
A
person’s normal resting heart rate is fairly
consistent over time but may vary from others’ by a
considerable number of beats per minute, according to
the biggest analysis of heart beats ever carried out.
A team from the Scripps Research Translational
Institute in California set out to analyse data from
wearable devices such as smart watches that tracked
the heart rates of over 92,000 people from across the
United States.
The team used nearly 33 million days’ worth of data
to examine variations in resting heart rate for individuals
over time. The analysis showed that one person’s mean
daily resting heart rate may differ by up to 70 beats per
minute from another person’s normal rate.
A routine visit to the doctor usually involves
a measurement of resting heart rate, but such
measurements are rarely actionable unless they deviate
significantly from a “normal” range established by
population-level studies.
However, wearables that track heart rate now
provide the opportunity to continuously monitor heart
rate over time and identify normal resting heart rates at
the individual level.
“Day-to-day changes in resting heart rate could be
the first true, individualised ‘digital vital sign’ [which is]
now possible to measure thanks to wearable sensor
technologies,” the authors wrote in the journal Plos
One.
“These variations in resting heart rate may allow for
the identification of early unexpected changes in an
individuals’ health.”
GlobalHealthAndTravel.com
Statins are no
replacement for exercise
and a healthy lifestyle
Patients on preventative medication feel they
have a ‘free pass” to be unhealthy
P
atients who use lipid-lowering or antihypertensive
medication, like statins, are more likely to gain
weight and be less physically active than those who
don’t, according to a sizeable analysis of patients in
Finland.
The findings raise concern about the so-called
“substitution” hypothesis where patients may view
that the perceived effectiveness of a medication gives
them a free pass when it comes to important lifestyle
changes needed for the prevention of cardiovascular
disease, researchers said in the Journal of the American
Heart Association.
Previous studies have suggested that physical
activity is lower among statin users and those taking
blood pressure-lowering medication, though data from
the early 2000s showed these patients consumed fewer
calories and less saturated fat than nonusers.
Those trends were reversed in later surveys,
however. Also, previous cross-sectional studies tended
to be small, with a lack of data testing the substitution
hypothesis, as well as a lack of data in primary
prevention patients.
The new study now raises questions about how
doctors monitor lifestyle changes while treating patients
using preventative medication.
“Few studies have examined whether initiation of
preventive medication affects lifestyle, either increasing
or decreasing the likelihood of unhealthy behaviours.
Because initiation of antihypertensive or statin therapy
appears to be associated with some negative lifestyle
changes, expansion of pharmacologic interventions
toward populations at low cardiovascular disease risk
may not necessarily lead to expected benefits at the
population level, the researchers concluded.
“Effective measures are needed to support the
recommended lifestyle change in relation to the
initiation of pharmacologic interventions for primary
prevention.”
MARCH 2020
29