Comparison of the chronotropic response to exercise and heart rate recovery in predicting cardiovascular mortality

Abstract

Both chronotropic incompetence and heart rate recovery predict cardiovascular mortality in patients referred for exercise testing for clinical reasons. Chronotropic incompetence was a stronger predictor of cardiovascular mortality than heart rate recovery, but risk was most powerfully stratified by these two responses together. The simple application of heart rate provides powerful risk stratification for cardiovascular mortality from the exercise test, and should be routinely included in the test report.