ArticleOpen heart2026
Resting heart rate and long-term mortality in young adults: a population-based cohort study.
Article in Open heart, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesElevated resting heart rate (RHR) predicts mortality in middle-aged and older adults, primarily through cardiovascular disease (CVD). Whether RHR predicts mortality in young adults, which causes of death are involved and whether the association replicates are unclear. In young US adults, who fall below the starting age of current cardiovascular risk tools, we examined RHR and all-cause and cause-specific mortality across two cohorts.
methodsWe analysed 3291 adults aged 20-49 years from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999-2004 (primary cohort) linked to mortality through 2019 (median follow-up 17.8 years; 120 deaths) with replication in 8941 adults from NHANES III (1988-1994; 1317 deaths; median follow-up 27.6 years; temporal replication). RHR and heart rate reserve (HRR) were modelled per 10 beats per minute increment using Cox regression adjusted for demographic, lifestyle and comorbidity covariates.
resultsEach 10 beats per minute higher RHR was associated with higher all-cause mortality (primary cohort: HR, 1.26; 95% CI 1.07 to 1.50; validation: HR, 1.17; 95% CI 1.12 to 1.22). In the primary cohort most deaths (99 of 120) were non-CVD; the CVD-specific analysis was underpowered (21 deaths; HR, 1.15; 95% CI 0.77 to 1.71). In validation, RHR predicted non-CVD (HR, 1.17; 95% CI 1.11 to 1.23) and CVD (HR, 1.18; 95% CI 1.08 to 1.29) mortality about equally. The association strengthened with age, emerging by the early-to-mid 30 s in both cohorts, before the starting age of current risk tools. HRR, measured under submaximal conditions, was not associated with any outcome.
conclusionsIn young US adults, elevated resting heart rate, a free and routinely measured vital sign, predicts long-term mortality across two cohorts, marking broad survival vulnerability rather than cardiovascular risk alone. Detectable in the early-to-mid 30 s, below the starting age of current cardiovascular risk tools, resting heart rate may flag at-risk young adults before these tools apply. Submaximal HRR carried no prognostic value.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.