Introduction
Pulse rate, also called heart rate, is the number of heartbeats per unit of time, commonly used as beats per minute (BPM). Pulse rate is varied in accordance with the body's need for oxygen changes, such as during exercise or sleep. Since various health-related phenotypes are closely correlated with pulse rate [1-3], measuring pulse rate is commonly used for diagnosing and accessing medical conditions.
Pulse rate is known to be positively correlated with triglycerides and negatively correlated with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol [3]. Numerous studies have reported an association between heart rate and total and/or cardiovascular mortality [1]. Metabolic syndrome is associated with poor exercise capacity and poor heart rate recovery in patients who have coronary disease [4]. Moreover, high pulse rate is negatively correlated with lifespan in mammals, including humans [2].
Despite the importance of pulse rate as a risk factor for various diseases, however, few genes are known to be associated with pulse rate, and the underlying mechanism for pulse rate remains unraveled. We previously reported pulse rate-associated loci from the Korea Association Resource (KARE) genomewide association study (GWAS), comprising 8,842 samples in the Korean population [5]. In this study, we extended the previous study and reexamined the relevance of pulse rate-associated single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from an additional GWAS of 3,703 Korean samples.