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Original Articles: Barbara P. Yawn, K. Afzal Ammar, Randal Thomas, and Peter C. Wollan Test-Retest Reproducibility of Heart Rate Recovery After Treadmill Exercise Ann Fam Med 2003; 1: 236-241 [Abstract] [Full text] [PDF]

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Electronic letters published:

Heart rate recovery is not helpful in primary care

Robert J Petrella   (30 December 2003)

Heart rate recovery is not helpful in primary care 30 December 2003
Robert J Petrella, London, Canada Associate Professor, Family Medicine and Kinesiology, University of Western Ontario Send response to journal: Re: Heart rate recovery is not helpful in primary care	Fitness is an important determinant of health and is linked to many aspects of primary care intervention. Performing exercise tests allows one to determine or predict fitness--however, many tests are not feasible or transferable to primary care. This study showed that heart rate recovery, one of several variables that can be measured during exercise testing, was not reproducible in a cohort of 90 patients. The authors unfortunately did not include important corroborative and perhaps more meaningful data that should be utilized by primary care physicians--these include exercise time, metabolic equivalents (METS) and maximal exercise heart rate (all indirect meaures of fitness or VO2max). This study is important for several reasons: not all clinical/laboratory data regarding exercise is transferable or meaningful to primary care practice, that specific data on exercise testing are subject to variability, and most importantly, fitness is a more valuable, relevant and reproducible variable that can be measured using techniques that are transferable and valid. Competing interests:   None declared