Cardiovascular Autonomic Imbalance as a Predictor of Metabolic Syndrome in Adults Working Abroad

Objectives The aimm of the present study was to investigate the relationship between cardiovascular autonomic balance and various factors of the metabolic syndrome.Method and Results 2302 Japanese adults working abroad were divided to age-matched three groups according to resting heart rate (HR) ; 516 subjects in the bradycardia group: [B] (HR≤60.0/min.), 1529 subjects in the normal heart rate group: [N] (60.0/min.pulse pressure (PP), mean arterial pressure (MAP), fasting plasma glucose (FPG), fasting plasma insulin (FIRI) and insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) in the [T] were significantly higher than those in the [B] and the [N] ; HOMA-IR: 1.42 ( [B] : p<0.0001), 1.69 ( [N] : p<0.01), 1.91 ( [T] ), respectively. Furthermore, the levels of pancreas-β function (HOMA-β) and plasma total cholesterol (T-chol), triglyceride (TG), aspartate transaminase (AST), alanine transferase (ALT) and γ-glutamyltranspeptidase (γ-GPT) in the [B] were significantly lower than those in the other. The levels of QRS axis were significantly higher in the [B] than those in the others. However, the levels of ratecorrected QT (QT c) were significantly higher in the [T] than those in the others. HR was a significantly positive correlation with HOMA-IR, T chol, TG, S-BP, D-BP, PP, MAP, ALT, AST, ALT, γ-GPT, FPG, FIRI and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) values in all subjects, and a significantly negative correlation with physical activities.Conclusion The HR was important precursor for the metabolic syndrome in healthy adults working abroad.