Correlation between body fat and post-exercise heart rate in healthy men and women

Summary Aims A slower first minute reduction of post-exercise heart rate (HR) represents an unfavorable indicator of autonomic control, with post-exercise HR influenced by several physiological and pathophysiological attributes. However, the association between post-exercise HR and body composition indices is poorly described so far. The purpose of this study was to describe the correlation between body fat and post-exercise HR in apparently healthy men and women. Methods and results We evaluated body composition of 203 participants (age 29.1 ± 11.9 years, 165 men and 38 women), who completed maximal graded exercise test on a treadmill, with heart rate monitored during and immediately after exercise. The average body fat was 13.7 ± 7.3% (men) and 25.6 ± 9.2% (women), with 7.9% men and 23.7% women classified as obese. A negative trend has been reported for correlation between body fat and post-exercise HR ( r  = −0.12; P  = 0.09). When adjusted for age, gender and cardiorespiratory endurance, body fat accounted for only 10.4% of variability in post-exercise HR ( P  = 0.39). Nevertheless, the model as a whole was a statistically significant predictor of post-exercise heart rate ( P  = 0.02), with cardiorespiratory endurance accounted for 35.4% of variance to this model ( P  = 0.005). Conclusion It seems that autonomic control, as evaluated by post-exercise HR, was not associated with body fat in our cohort of apparently healthy normal-weight and obese men and women. When monitoring and interpreting post-exercise HR in real-life circumstances among healthy men and women, one should not focus attention on their body composition.