A new study led by researchers at Oxford Population Health suggests that people with a slower heart rate recovery after exercise are at increased risk of developing Parkinson’s. The study is published in Annals of Neurology.
Parkinson’s is a progressive neurological condition that affects movement, balance, and coordination. People living with Parkinson's are unable to produce enough of the chemical dopamine, which helps control movements, because some of the nerve cells that make it have stopped working.
One main clinical challenge lies in earlier detection, as significant neurological degeneration has often already occurred by the time patients receive a diagnosis. Heart rate recovery reflects the activity of the parasympathetic nervous system, which regulates the body’s ability to calm the heart after physical exertion. This system is known to be affected early in the course of Parkinson’s, often before the classic motor symptoms appear.
Researchers analysed data from 69,288 participants in UK Biobank who undertook a standardised cycling exercise test. It found that slower heart rate recovery, which is defined as the decrease in heart rate in the first minute after stopping exercise, was associated with a higher risk of developing Parkinson’s over the following decade.
Key findings:
- During an average of 12.5 years follow-up period, 319 participants (0.5%) were diagnosed with Parkinson’s;
- Participants who later developed Parkinson’s had significantly slower heart rate recovery (on average 23.4 beats/min) compared with those who did not (27.8 beats/min);
- After adjusting for other risk factors, slower heart rate recovery remained independently associated with a 30% increased risk of Parkinson’s per 10 beats/min slower recovery.
Dr Stefan van Duijvenboden, lead author of the study and researcher in Health Data Science at Oxford Population Health, said ‘Most early markers of Parkinson’s are either binary or non-modifiable, such as sex or genetics. In contrast, heart rate recovery is a continuous and potentially modifiable measure that could offer new insights into disease development and progression.’
The findings support growing evidence that changes in the autonomic nervous system, which is responsible for regulating automatic bodily functions such as heart rate and digestion, may occur many years before a formal diagnosis of Parkinson’s is made.
Further research is needed to confirm whether heart rate recovery could be incorporated into early screening tools, or used to monitor the impact of interventions in individuals at risk of Parkinson’s.