Elsevier

Ageing Research Reviews

Volume 8, Issue 1, January 2009, Pages 52-60
Ageing Research Reviews

Review
Heart rate, lifespan, and mortality risk

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.arr.2008.10.001Get rights and content

Abstract

An increasing body of scientific research and observational evidence indicates that resting heart rate (HR) is inversely related to the lifespan among homeothermic mammals and within individual species. In numerous human studies with patients stratified by resting HR, increased HR is universally associated with greater risk of death. The correlation between HR and maximum lifespan seems to be due to both basal metabolic rate and cardiovascular-related mortality risk. Both intrinsic and extrinsic factors are already postulated to determine how the biological clock works, through regulating and modulating the processes such as protein oxidation, free radical production, inflammation and telomere shortening. Given the remarkable correlation between HR and lifespan, resting HR should be seriously considered as another possible cap on maximum lifespan. Future research is needed to determine whether deliberate cardiac slowing, through methods like lifestyle modification, pharmacological intervention, or medical devices, can decelerate biological clock of aging, reduce cardiovascular mortality and increase maximum lifespan in humans in general.

Introduction

Heart rate (HR) is a term used to describe the frequency of the cardiac cycle, which consists of phases of myocardial contraction and relaxation. HR not only reflects the status of the cardiovascular system, but also serves as an indicator of autonomic nervous (sympathetic and parasympathetic/vagal) system activity and metabolic rate. HR is even considered to control the body’s metabolic activity (Ferrari et al., 2005). A myriad of factors can affect HR, including but not limited to physical fitness, psychological status, diet, drugs, and the interaction of genetics and the environment. The presence or absence of a pulse, which is equal to HR under normal conditions, was one of the signs that humans learned to use in order to differentiate between life and death thousands of years ago.

Even in modern medicine, HR is one of the vital signs, along with body temperature, respiration and blood pressure (BP). If anything, the importance of HR has been increasingly recognized, as investigations in the recent past have found a new prognostic value for HR, specifically, that higher HR in mammals, including humans, is negatively correlated with lifespan.

This article will review the relationship between basal/resting HR and lifespan and risk of death. It also tries to explore the underlying mechanisms that link HR to lifespan and the possibility of prolonging lifespan through various interventions of cardiac slowing.

Section snippets

Heart rate and lifespan in mammals

There is a tremendous amount of variation in HR among homeothermic mammals: it can be as low as 30–35 beats per minute (bpm) in large animals like whales and elephants, or as high as 600–700 bpm in mice (Noujaim et al., 2004). Likewise, mammal lifespan also varies considerably. Mammals that have slower average HR tend to live much longer than those that have faster HR (Levine, 1997, Dawson, 2001). The relationship between HR and lifespan was well presented by Levine (1997), who illustrated that

Are humans significantly different from other mammals in lifespan?

From a diverse sampling of mammals of all sizes, we see that body mass (weight), HR and lifespan are strongly correlated in mammals (Fig. 1, Fig. 2). Very small mammals like mice, rats, and hamsters have the highest HR and lowest life spans. Large mammals like elephants and whales have the slowest heat rates and the longest life spans. Humans, however, represent a distinct outlier in this relationship. Given an average human HR of 60–100 bpm, we should have similar life spans as tigers and

Why is faster heart rate correlated with shorter lifespan in mammals?

With the relationship in Fig. 1, Fig. 2 in mind, the overarching questions are (1) why do smaller animals require faster HR and (2) why is faster HR so strongly correlated to shorter lifespan?

One attractive theory to answer the first question is that higher resting HR results from higher basal metabolic rate. High metabolic rate is correlated with body surface area, and because smaller mammals have a greater ratio of body surface area to body weight, they need higher metabolic rates to maintain

Heart rate reduction and its impact on life span

Humans are increasingly approaching an era where cardiovascular health seems to be one of the major upper limits on achievable lifespan. According to the World Health Report 2004, which estimated causes of death in the world in 2002, the leading cause of death in Africa were infectious and parasitic diseases, responsible for over 56% of all deaths (WHO, 2004). On the same continent, HIV/AIDS alone accounted for over 19%, and cardiovascular diseases accounted for just 9.7% of all deaths. In the

Conclusion

Recent research has uncovered increasing evidence that HR is inversely related to the lifespan among homeothermic mammals and among individual species. There already exist numerous factors which are postulated to determine maximum lifespan, including protein oxidation, free radical production, and telomere shortening. Given the remarkable correlation between HR and lifespan, resting HR should be seriously considered as another possible cap on maximum lifespan. The correlation between HR and

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