Glucose intolerance is associated with resting heart rate among individuals without diabetes
Authors: Labadah Joshua , Apaflo Jehu , Narvaez Gabriel , Rocha Victoria , Bajpeyi Sudip 
Published: May 2023

Elevated resting heart rate is associated with cardiovascular diseases and all-cause mortality. Unmanaged diabetes is associated with high blood pressure and high resting heart rate. Persistent high blood glucose levels in diabetes is known to contribute to the dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system including cardiovascular autonomic nerve fibers leading to higher resting heart rate, heart failure and stroke. In a population without diabetes, however, there is limited knowledge about the relationship between glucose tolerance and indicators of cardiovascular health, therefore, the purpose of the study was to determine how glucose intolerance is associated with resting heart rate and blood pressure in individuals without diabetes. We hypothesized that glucose intolerance will be associated with resting heart rate and blood pressure in a healthy population without diabetes. Eighty five (32 males, 53 females) individuals without diabetes from the border region of El Paso participated in this study (age 26.69±9.45years; BMI 27.85±6.45kg/m2; fasting blood glucose 95.38±10.09mg/dL; resting heart rate 66.15±10.54 bpm; systolic blood pressure 109.2±11.74 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure 71.24±9.03 mmHg). Following an overnight fast of at least 8 hours, resting heart rate systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure were measured with a sphygmomanometer. Fasting blood glucose was measured and a 3-hour oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was performed by consuming 75 grams of glucose drink and measuring blood glucose at 15, 30, 90, 120, 150 and 180 minutes after the glucose consumption via a handheld glucometer. Glucose tolerance was assessed by calculating glucose area under the curve (AUC) during OGTT. Spearman’s correlations were performed at 0.05 alpha to determine the associations. Glucose area under the curve, AUC positively correlated with resting heart rate (r=0.39, p=0.0005) whereas fasting blood glucose did not (r=0.02, p=0.9). Blood glucose concentrations at 15 minutes (r=0.10, p=0.4), 30 minutes (r=0.07, p=0.6), and 60 minutes (r=0.2, p=0.1) did not correlate with resting heart rate while blood glucose concentrations at 90 minutes (r=0.3, p=0.02), 120 minutes (r=0.35, p=0.002), 150 minutes (r=0.33, p=0.003), and 180 minutes (r=0.29, p=0.01) during OGTT positively correlated with resting heart rate. Glucose area under the curve was not associated with neither systolic (r=-0.02, p=0.9) nor diastolic (r=0.2, p=0.2) blood pressures. Fasting blood glucose was not associated with neither systolic (r=0.2, p=0.2) nor diastolic (r=0.1, p=0.4) blood pressure. Glucose intolerance rather than fasting blood glucose is reflective of elevated resting heart rate among a healthy population without diabetes.

Dodson Grant

This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2023 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.