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Review
. 2012 Dec;14(6):478-84.
doi: 10.1007/s11906-012-0306-3.

Heart rate and blood pressure: any possible implications for management of hypertension?

Scott Reule  1 , Paul E Drawz
Affiliations
Review

Heart rate and blood pressure: any possible implications for management of hypertension?

Scott Reule et al. Curr Hypertens Rep. 2012 Dec.

Abstract

Hypertension is a common clinical problem and a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease and stroke. Elevated heart rate is associated with elevated blood pressure, increased risk for hypertension, and, among hypertensives, increased risk for cardiovascular disease. Despite these important relationships, heart rate is generally not a major consideration in choosing antihypertensive medications. In part, this is due to a lack of evidence supporting heart rate lowering as a therapeutic strategy in hypertension. Additionally, while there is a positive correlation between heart rate and peripheral blood pressure, there is an inverse relationship between heart rate and central blood pressure. The use of antihypertensive medications, specifically medications that affect heart rate, may not reliably reduce central blood pressure to a similar extent as observed peripherally. We review the relationship between heart rate and peripheral and central blood pressure, with a focus on the implications for chronotropic therapy in hypertension.

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Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure No potential conflicts of interest relevant to this article were reported.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Relative risk for adverse outcomes associated with beta-blockers compared to other antihypertensive agents by age—a meta-analysis. From Bangalore S, Wild D, Parkar S, et al. [34] Beta-blockers for primary prevention of heart failure in patients with hypertension. Insights from a meta-analysis. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2008;52:1062–72, with permission
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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