What Is the Connection Between Blood Pressure and Heart Rate?
Heart rate can predict blood pressure
Right!- Heart rate can predict future blood pressure in adults. Recently, scholars at the Indiana University School of Medicine believe that heart rate can also predict blood pressure in some children.
Heart rate can predict future blood pressure in adults. Recently, scholars at the Indiana University School of Medicine believe that heart rate can also predict blood pressure in some children.
These scholars looked at the relationship between heart rate and future blood pressure among black and white school students. Heart rate was found to predict diastolic blood pressure in black boys, but not diastolic blood pressure in black girls and white children.
The study included 344 black and 456 white school students, aged 5 to 19 years. They measured their blood pressure in schools or clinics, and measured heart rate, blood pressure, weight, and height about every six months for a total of 12 years.
Researchers found that there was no significant difference in basal heart rate between white and black children, but girls overall had higher heart rates than boys. Black children have higher systolic blood pressure (blood pressure during systole) than white children, and boys have higher blood pressure than girls. Black children also have higher diastolic blood pressure (blood pressure during diastole), but there is no significant difference in diastolic blood pressure between different genders.
Researchers have observed over the years that heart rate decreases with age, with boys dropping even more. On the other hand, blood pressure rises with age, and the tendency for systolic blood pressure to increase with age is more pronounced in boys than girls in both white and black. After many years, the diastolic blood pressure of black boys was significantly higher than that of white boys.
The researchers concluded that heart rate can only predict diastolic blood pressure in black boys, although there is a similar trend in black girls. No relationship between heart rate and future blood pressure was observed in white children.