Rise in Resting Heart Rate Linked to Coronary Artery Disease A large study has found that a rise in resting heart rate over a decade may indicate an increased risk of death from coronary artery disease. Norwegian researchers studied 30,000 healthy men and women age 20 and older, checking heart rates at intervals 10 years apart. The scientists followed the subjects through 2008, recording the number of deaths from coronary heart disease. The results were published Dec. 21 in The Journal of the American Medical Association. Compared with those whose heart rates remained stable at 70 beats per minute or less, those whose rates increased to 85 or more were almost twice as likely to die of heart disease. For those with resting rates between 70 and 85 beats per minute at the first test, an increase to greater than 85 was associated with an 80 percent increase in death rate. There was no direct decrease in heart disease risk with decreasing resting heart rate, but among the 7,000 people whose heart rates had decreased from between 70 and 85 to below 70 beats a minute, risk for death from any cause was reduced by 40 percent. The subjects were completely healthy at both measurements, said Ulrik Wisloff of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. So resting heart rate is a simple, cost-free and strong biomarker that should be monitored regularly.