Why socially deprived populations have a faster resting heart rate: Impact of behaviour, life course anthropometry, and biology – the RECORD Cohort Study

Although studies have shown that resting heart rate (RHR) is predictive of cardiovascular morbidity/mortality, few studies focused on the epidemiology and social aetiology of RHR. Using the RECORD Cohort Study (7158 participants, 2007–2008, Paris region, France), we investigated individual/neighbourhood socioeconomic variables associated with resting heart rate, and assessed which of a number of psychological factors (depression and stress), behaviour (sport-related energy expenditure, medication use, and alcohol, coffee, and tobacco consumption), life course anthropometric factors (body mass index, waist circumference, and leg length as a marker of childhood environmental exposures), and biologic factors (alkaline phosphatase and gamma-glutamyltransferase) contributed to the socioeconomic disadvantage–RHR relationship. Combining individual/neighbourhood socioeconomic factors in a socioeconomic score, RHR increased with socioeconomic disadvantage: +0.9 [95% credible interval (CrI): +0.2, +1.6], +1.8 (95% CrI: +1.0, +2.5), and +3.6 (95% CrI: +2.9, +4.4) bpm for the 3 categories reflecting increasing disadvantage, compared with the lowest disadvantage category. Twenty-one percent of the socioeconomic disadvantage–RHR relationship was explained by sport practise variables, 9% by waist circumference, 7% by gamma-glutamyltransferase, 5% by alkaline phosphatase, and 3% by leg length. Future research should further clarify the mechanisms through which socioeconomic disadvantage influences resting heart rate, as a pathway to social disparities in cardiovascular morbidity/mortality.

► In a French population, after adjustment for individual socioeconomic status, resting heart rate increased with decreasing neighbourhood education.
► Resting heart rate increased regularly with decreasing leg length (as a proxy of childhood environmental exposures).
► Energy expenditure, waist circumference, and leg length were found to contribute to social disparities in resting heart rate.