Skip to main content
PMC home page
Journal of the National Medical Association logoLink to Journal of the National Medical Association
letter
. 1988 Sep;80(9):953–960.

Heart Rate of Black and White Youths Aged 12-17 Years

Associations With Blood Pressure and Other Cardiovascular Risk Factors

Richard F Gillum
PMCID: PMC2625858  PMID: 3241313

Abstract

Correlates of heart rate were investigated in youths aged 12 to 17 years examined in the United States National Health Examination Survey. Heart rate decreased with age in boys but no consistent trend appeared in girls. Girls had higher heart rates than boys. Blacks had heart rates 6 to 12 beats per minute lower than whites of the same age and sex.

Multiple regression analysis showed the effect of race to be independent of multiple other variables. Regression analyses within sex-race groups identified the following independent correlates of heart rate: white boys, age, systolic blood pressure, and body temperature; black boys, age, body temperature, subscapular skinfold, and systolic blood pressure; white girls, systolic blood pressure, body temperature, cigarette smoking; black girls, body temperature. Correlations of two heart rate measurements 28 to 53 months apart (median 44 months) ranged from r = 0.21 to r = 0.30.

Although expanded blood volume and lower sympathetic tone in blacks have been hypothesized, further longitudinal studies are needed to explain the differences in heart rates between races and sexes and their relationship to hypertension in adulthood.

Full text

PDF

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Berenson G. S., Voors A. W., Dalferes E. R., Jr, Webber L. S., Shuler S. E. Creatinine clearance, electrolytes, and plasma renin activity related to the blood pressure of white and black children--the Bogalusa Heart Study. J Lab Clin Med. 1979 Apr;93(4):535–548. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Cornoni-Huntley J., Harlan W. R., Leaverton P. E. Blood pressure in adolescence. The United States Health Examination survey. Hypertension. 1979 Nov-Dec;1(6):566–571. doi: 10.1161/01.hyp.1.6.566. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Dyer A. R., Persky V., Stamler J., Paul O., Shekelle R. B., Berkson D. M., Lepper M., Schoenberger J. A., Lindberg H. A. Heart rate as a prognostic factor for coronary heart disease and mortality: findings in three Chicago epidemiologic studies. Am J Epidemiol. 1980 Dec;112(6):736–749. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a113046. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Gillum R. F., Gillum B. S., Smith N. Cardiovascular risk factors among urban American Indians: blood pressure, serum lipids, smoking, diabetes, health knowledge, and behavior. Am Heart J. 1984 Apr;107(4):765–776. doi: 10.1016/0002-8703(84)90326-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Gillum R. F. Pathophysiology of hypertension in blacks and whites. A review of the basis of racial blood pressure differences. Hypertension. 1979 Sep-Oct;1(5):468–475. doi: 10.1161/01.hyp.1.5.468. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Gillum R. F., Prineas R. J., Palta M., Horibe H. Blood pressure of urban Native American school children. Hypertension. 1980 Nov-Dec;2(6):744–749. doi: 10.1161/01.hyp.2.6.744. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Hediger M. L., Schall J. I., Katz S. H., Gruskin A. B., Eveleth P. B. Resting blood pressure and pulse rate distributions in black adolescents: The Philadelphia Blood Pressure Project. Pediatrics. 1984 Dec;74(6):1016–1021. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Labarthe D. R., Morris D. L., Freyer B. S. Blood pressure during growth and development. Ann Clin Res. 1984;16 (Suppl 43):35–43. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Levinson S., Liu K., Stamler J., Stamler R., Whipple I., Ausbrook D., Berkson D. Ethnic differences in blood pressure and heart rate of Chicago school children. Am J Epidemiol. 1985 Sep;122(3):366–377. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a114117. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Paffenbarger R. S., Jr, Thorne M. C., Wing A. L. Chronic disease in former college students. VIII. Characteristics in youth predisposing to hypertension in later years. Am J Epidemiol. 1968 Jul;88(1):25–32. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a120864. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Persky V. W., Dyer A. R., Stamler J., Shekelle R. B., Schoenberger J. A. Racial patterns of heart rate in an employed adult population. Am J Epidemiol. 1979 Sep;110(3):274–280. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a112812. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Schachter J., Kuller L. H., Perfetti C. Heart rate during the first five years of life: relation to ethnic group (black or white) and to parental hypertension. Am J Epidemiol. 1984 Apr;119(4):554–563. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a113772. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Schachter J., Lachin J. M., 3rd, Kerr J. L., Wimberly F. C., 3rd, Ratey J. J. Heart rate and blood pressure in black newborns and in white newborns. Pediatrics. 1976 Aug;58(2):283–287. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Schall J. I., Hediger M. L., Katz S. H., Zemel B. S., Valleroy L. A. Pulse rate, blood pressure and body composition in black adolescents: the Philadelphia Blood Pressure Project. J Chronic Dis. 1985;38(3):241–251. doi: 10.1016/0021-9681(85)90067-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Shekelle R. B., Liu S., Raynor W. J., Miller R. A. Racial difference in mean pulse rate of children aged 6 to 11 years. Pediatrics. 1978 Jan;61(1):119–121. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Voors A. W., Berenson G. S., Dalferes E. R., Webber L. S., Shuler S. E. Racial differences in blood pressure control. Science. 1979 Jun 8;204(4397):1091–1094. doi: 10.1126/science.451554. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Voors A. W., Webber L. S., Berenson G. S. Resting heart rate and pressure-rate product of children in a total biracial community: the Bogalusa Heart Study. Am J Epidemiol. 1982 Aug;116(2):276–286. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a113412. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of the National Medical Association are provided here courtesy of National Medical Association

RESOURCES