Heart rate recovery to assess fitness: comparison of different calculation methods in a large cross-sectional study

ABSTRACT

We propose a cross-sectional study based on 980 maximal effort tests to quantify the effect of the calculation method of heart rate recovery (HRR) on its association with cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF). For five different time t₀ after exercise cessation, HRR has been calculated as:

• the difference and the ratio between maximal measured heart rate and heart rate (HR) at t₀

• HR at t₀

• the decay time of an exponential decay encompassing the first t₀ minutes of the HR recovery.

The associations between HRR indices and CRF were estimated from generalized estimating equations stratified by gender and adjusted for age and body mass index. For HRR indices based on exponential regression, no significant association with CRF was found, whereas the other HRR indices are associated with CRF when t₀ is at least 1 minute and is maximum for t₀ = 2 minutes for females and t₀ = 3 minutes for males.

KEYWORDS:

• Exercise test
• heart rate recovery
• cardiorespiratory fitness
• vagal reactivity

Authors contribution

Design was performed by D.M. and D.S.C. Measurements were performed by J.R.A.C. and J.G.R. Analysis was conducted by D.M. Writing of the manuscript and interpretation was conducted by D.M. and C.C. All authors agreed to the final version of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Swiss national science foundation (SNSF) under grant scientific exchange grant IZSEZ0_183540 and ICARUS SNSF fund 100019_166010.