Association between Resting Heart Rate and Borderline Ankle-Brachial Index Among the Health Screen Examinees

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The ankle-brachial index (ABI) is a simple, noninvasive clinical test that is useful in the diagnosis of peripheral artery disease (PAD). The borderline ABI value is 0.91–0.99 and has also been reported in endothelial dysfunction and preclinical PAD. We investigated the relationship between resting heart rate as a surrogate marker of autonomic balance and borderline ABI in apparently healthy individuals.METHODS: We evaluated the association between resting heart rate and borderline ABI in 618 participants (348 male and 270 female) in a health examination program. The odds ratios for borderline ABI were calculated using a multivariable logistic regression analysis after adjusting for confounding variables across heart rate quartiles (Q1≤56, Q2=57–62, Q3=63–68, and Q4≥69 beats/min).RESULTS: The overall prevalence of borderline ABI was 13.9%. The age- and sex-adjusted resting heart rate was significantly higher in the borderline ABI group than in the control group (66.9±0.9 vs. 63.0±0.4 beats/min, P < 0.001). The odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) for the borderline ABI in each heart rate quartile were 1.00, 1.04 (0.43–2.52), 1.69 (0.73–3.93), and 3.52 (1.55–7.97) after adjusting for age, sex, smoking status, alcohol intake, regular exercise, body mass index, systolic blood pressure, fasting plasma glucose level, triglyceride level, high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol level, white blood cell count, C-reactive protein level, uric acid level, γ-glutamyltransferase level, hypertension medication, diabetes medication, and dyslipidemia medication.CONCLUSION: These findings indicate that a higher resting heart rate is independently associated with borderline ABI.