Resting heart rate and its change induced by physical training in patients with ischemic heart disease at various ages treated with beta-blockers.

Background: The present study was aimed at possible modifications of resting HR induced by systematic physical training in patients of different age populations with ischemic heart disease (IHD) subjected to chronic therapeutic beta-blockade.

Methods: The goal was the assessment of initial resting heart rate (HR) and its change after 6 months of physical training in two groups of patients with IHD at various ages (A: 55.5 +/- +/- 4.6 years; B: 72.5 +/- 4.37 years) treated with beta-blockers, the dosage of which was not modified during the observation.

Results: Comparison between the groups A and B concerned the initial rHR (min-1): 79.3 +/- +/- 8.3 vs. 73.6 +/- 8.3 (p < 0.01), the after-training rHR: 70.9 +/- 7.9 vs. 67.7 +/- 8.4 (NS), and the delta of rHR: -8.4 +/- 4.8 vs. -5.9 +/- 2.8 (p < 0.01). Statistically significant correlation coefficients both between the patients' ages and the initial rHR (r = -0.377) and the delta of rHR (r = 0.347) were noted.

Conclusions: The reduction of rHR after 6-months of training was less in the older IHD patients because of their lower initial rHR compared with the younger patients, which was probably determined more by physiological vagotonia than therapeutic beta-blockade. (Cardiol J 2007; 14: 493-496).