A study on 73,357 Chinese adults published recently suggests an association between resting heart rate and diabetes mellitus. In a four-year study of 73,357 Chinese adults, researchers observed that faster heart rates were positively associated with an increased risk of developing diabetes. Researchers also found that faster heart rates were associated with impaired fasting glucose levels and a conversion from impaired fasting glucose levels to diabetes among the same population. Each additional 10 beats per minute was associated with 23 percent increased risk of diabetes, similar to the effects of a 3 kilogram per meter square increase in body mass index.

The paper was published in a recent issue of the International Journal of Epidemiology. The researchers measured heart rates during a baseline exam done in 2006-2007. After about five minutes rest, they recorded heart rates using a 12-lead electrocardiogram with participants lying on their backs. All participants of the study were employees of the Kailuan Coal Co., Ltd., a coal mining company in China. During a four-year follow-up exam, the researchers identified 17,463 prediabetic cases and 4,649 diabetes cases. They examined glucose every two years, beginning in 2006. Researchers excluded any individual who appeared to be diabetic during the initial test.

The National Natural Science Foundation of China and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health funded this research.-2007. According to the paper roughly 12 percent of Chinese adults have diabetes and 50 percent have pre-diabetes. Pre-diabetes (according to the American Diabetes Association, is blood glucose levels that are higher than normal but not yet high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes).