Effects of adiposity and prader-willi syndrome on postexercise heart rate recovery

Heart rate recovery (hrr) is an indicator of all-cause mortality in children and adults. we aimed to determine the effect of adiposity and prader-willi syndrome (pws),a congenital form of obesity,on hrr. sixteen children of normal weight (nw = body fat % ≤85th percentile,9.4 ± 1.1 y),18 children with obesity (ob = body fat % >95th percentile,9.3 ± 1.1 y),and 11 pws youth (regardless of body fat %; 11.4 ± 2.5 y) completed peak and submaximal bike tests on separate visits. hrr was recorded one minute following peak and submaximal exercises. all groups displayed similar hrr from peak exercise,while nw (54 ± 16 beats) and ob (50 ± 12 beats) exhibited a significantly faster hrr from submaximal exercise than pws (37 ± 14 beats). these data suggest that excess adiposity does not influence hrr in children,but other factors such as low cardiovascular fitness and/or autonomic dysfunction might be more influential. © 2013 diobel m. castner et al.