The Relationship Between Resting Heart Rate and SYNTAX Score in Patients With Stable Coronary Artery Disease

We investigated the relationship between resting heart rate (HR) and The Synergy between percutaneous coronary intervention with Taxus and cardiac surgery (SYNTAX) score in patients with stable coronary artery disease (SCAD). A total of 420 patients who were admitted to our outpatient clinic for stable angina pectoris with sinus rhythm and had at least 50% narrowing in at least 1 coronary artery after coronary angiography were included in the study. Patients were divided into 3 tertiles based on the resting HR: HR of tertile 1 was 65 (n = 138), tertile 2 was between 66 and 76 (n = 139), and tertile 3 was 77 beats/min (n = 143). The SYNTAX score (7.6 +/- 4.6, 12.4 +/- 5.6, 20.3 +/- 8.1; P < .001) was significantly higher for those in tertile 3 than for those in tertiles 1 and 2. Leukocyte count (7.8 +/- 2.2, 7.9 +/- 2.2, 8.4 +/- 2.3 x 10(9)/L; P = .035) and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels (2.4 +/- 0.5, 3.2 +/- 0.7, 4.5 +/- 1.2 mg/L, P < .001) were increasing from the lowest to the highest tertile. Using multiple logistic regression analysis, CRP (odds ratio [OR] 1.54 [1.17-2.11], P = .001) and resting HR (OR 1.67 [1.25-2.19], P < .001) emerged as independent predictors of SYNTAX score. Resting HR is related to SYNTAX score in patients with SCAD.