HEART RATE RECOVERY A USEFUL CARDIOVASCULAR HEALTH BIOMARKER

Abstract

The time required for the heart to recover, to reduce its frequency after intense physical effort, most often measured in the first or  second minute,  is known as heart rate recovery (HRR). It can easily and accurately detect autonomic nervous system dysfunction that is known to carry a risk of sudden cardiac death. A drop in heart rate of less than 22 beats per minute is considered a low value and is associated with an increased mortality rate.  Determining heart rate recovery is also used in the pediatric population for cardiovascular risk assessment and understanding the early development of metabolic abnormalities in obese children. Assessment of heart rate recovery as a biomarker in sports-medicine practice can find application in pre-participation screening, detection of some heart diseases, and overtraining syndrome. Given the fact that the risk of arrhythmia and sudden cardiac death increases during and after intense physical activity, especially in individuals with asymptomatic heart disease, assessment of heart rate recovery may be useful for athlete's cardiovascular health evaluation. The athlete trains to achieve their best performance by increasing load during the training process. However, if the load is extreme, it can lead to the development of overtraining syndrome. By regularly monitoring this parameter, athletes can monitor changes in training status. As the results of numerous studies confirm the importance of determining heart rate recovery, routine determination of this parameter could be important for everyday medical practice.