In a study from the University of Minnesota, scientists found evidence that speeding up the heart rate with pacemakers may help patients who often experience shortness of breath.
More than 75 million Americans have high blood pressure accompanied by heart muscle thickening and more than three million of these patients suffer from heart failure, a leading cause of hospital admissions and healthcare costs.
In heart failure with a stiff heart muscle, the heart is less able to relax and refill with blood. By implementing a tailored acceleration of heart rates, researchers can reduce congestion and improve the circulation of blood.
Beta-blockers have been found to save many lives in weak heart failure, but in patients with stiff hearts, the drugs are likely harmful by slowing the heart rate and increasing the congestion of blood in the heart.
In this study, the team tested if the opposite of beta-blockers, speeding up the heart rate with pacemakers, helps these patients.
The research team sought to explore if raising the pacemaker rate to a more normal resting rate, based on patient body size, would improve outcomes in patients with stiff hearts.
They found the patients paced at faster heart rates reported feeling markedly better and were less congested.
In addition, patients were more active and had less atrial fibrillation—a common heart rhythm disorder associated with heart failure.
The findings provide incremental evidence that higher heart rates—within the normal range—and not lower heart rates may be beneficial for patients with heart failure.
The team says it is very important to emphasize that the pacemakers in this study were implanted in a way that is very different from traditional pacemakers; traditional pacemakers would likely not show these benefits and, in fact, could even be harmful in some patients.
The research team believes these promising findings warrant further research to confirm the safety and benefits of this new treatment approach.
If you care about heart health, please read studies about best time to take vitamins to prevent heart disease, and Vitamin K2 could help reduce heart disease risk.
For more information about heart health, please see recent studies that calcium supplements may harm your heart health, and results showing Flu and COVID-19 vaccines may increase heart disease risk.
The study was conducted by Markus Meyer et al and published in JAMA Cardiology.
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