Elevated heart rate as sympathetic biomarker in human obesity

Background and aim: The present study was aimed at determining whether and to what extent a specific heart rate (HR) cutoff value allows to identify in obeses a more pronounced level of adrenergic overdrive. Methods and results: In 86 obese subjects aged 44.7 ± 0.9 (mean ± SEM) years and in 45 heathy lean controls of similar age we evaluated muscle sympathetic nerve traffic (MSNA, microneurography) and venous plasma norepinephrine (NE, HPLC assay), subdividing the subjects in 3 different groups according to their resting clinic and 24-h HR values (