Heart Rate - Blood Pressure Correlation

Does anybody know if there is a correlation between Heart Rate and Blood Pressure? If so, which one comes first? My husband has had his pacemaker for 6 years with no complications. Lately, we have noticed that when he feels pressure on his chest, his systolic blood pressure is in the 90's and his heart rate is 80 -not 79, not 81. 80. I have posted a more detailed message about his case which can be read at the following link

http://www.pacemakerclub.com/public/jpage/1/p/story/a/storypage/sid/34808/content.do

I gladly welcome your comments. Thank you in advance.

3 Comments

Complicated !

by IAN MC - 2015-05-14 11:05:43

Hi Andcunn The simplest answer is that there is not necessarily any correlation between heart rate and blood pressure because you are measuring two totally different things :

Heartrate measures the number of times your heart beats every minute and no more than that. The number of heart beats is not necessarily related to the force of the blood being pumped out of the ventricles .

Blood Pressure measures the force of the blood against the walls of the arteries ; this can alter quite independently of the heart rate . It depends on the force of the heart contractions, the narrowness of the arteries and on their elasticity.

If there WAS a direct correlation we wouldn't need measure both , we could simply measure our heart rate and then calculate your BP or vice-versa.

To complicate matters , when you exercise your heart rate shoots up but if you are healthy, the walls of the blood vessels dilate accordingly so the increase in BP can be fairly small. If your arteries are inelastic or narrowed by plaque deposits then the BP may increase more when you exercise.

If you are scared both HR and BP may increase.

So it is complicated , you can have low HR and high BP, high HR and low BP , both high or both low , sometimes they go up in tandem sometimes they don't.

and then there are two blood pressures, the central one in your aorta and the peripheral one typically measured by cuffs on BP devices. The second is higher than the first.

My brain hurts just thinking about it !

Cheers

Ian


Thank you

by Andcunn - 2015-05-15 11:05:59

Ian, I appreciate your ample and clear explanation. Did you, for any chance read my other posting at the link I included? I would love to have your opinion/comment. I realize this is a complicated case (or so we think) and I have found out that we can get more enlightenment through people in this website than from our own doctors. Here is the link once again... just in case. Also, if someone else is reading this thread, feel free to go there and give your input. Thanks again.

http://www.pacemakerclub.com/public/jpage/1/p/story/a/storypage/sid/34808/content.do

Hello again Andcunn

by IAN MC - 2015-05-15 12:05:04

I have just read your original post; it must be frustrating getting different advice depending on which Medtronic rep you see.

My knowledge is not in the same league as theirs so sorry, I can't help much at all.

But, I do know that an AV delay of 300 millisecs is considered to be a LONG delay and I was surprised that one of your techs was happy to increase it . Increasing the delay can have its downsides ; it means your maximum HR can fall and it can also lead to pacemaker-induced arrythmias.

I hope you find out why your husband's HR is leaping to 80 bpm at rest . I find it very strange that it is EXACTLY 80 every time ( are you sure that your measuring device is not faulty ? ); if it was a naturally occurring increase I would expect it to be far less consistent than that.

I hope that your oximeter confirms that your PM is preventing your husband's HR from falling below 60 bpm as it is programmed to do ? The pressure on his chest is an unusual symptom to be associated with a PM.

I hope you find the answers

Best Wishes

Ian


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