Evidence on the relations between heart rate, brain morphology, and cognition is limited. We examined the associations of resting heart rate (RHR), visit-to-visit heart rate variation (VVHRV), brain volumes and cognitive impairment. The study sample consisted of postmenopausal women enrolled in the Women's Health Initiative Memory Study and its ancillary MRI sub-studies (WHIMS-MRI 1 and WHIMS-MRI 2) without a history of cardiovascular disease, including 493 with one and 299 women with 2 brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. HR readings were acquired annually starting from baseline visit (1996–1998). RHR was calculated as the mean and VVHRV as standard deviation of all available HR readings. Brain MRI scans were performed between 2005 and 2006 (WHIMS-MRI 1), and approximately 5 years later (WHIMS-MRI 2). Cognitive impairment was defined as incident mild cognitive impairment or probable dementia until December 30, 2017. An elevated RHR was associated with greater brain lesion volumes at the first MRI exam (7.86 cm3 [6.48, 9.24] vs 4.78 cm3 [3.39, 6.17], p-value <0.0001) and with significant increases in lesion volumes between brain MRI exams (6.20 cm3 [4.81, 7.59] vs 4.28 cm3 [2.84, 5.73], p-value = 0.0168). Larger ischemic lesion volumes were associated with a higher risk for cognitive impairment (Hazard Ratio [95% confidence interval], 2.02 [1.18, 3.47], p-value = 0.0109). Neither RHR nor VVHRV were related to cognitive impairment. In sensitivity analyses, we additionally included women with a history of cardiovascular disease to the study sample. The main results were consistent to those without a history of cardiovascular disease. In conclusion, these findings show an association between elevated RHR and ischemic brain lesions, probably due to underlying subclinical disease processes.

关于心率、大脑形态和认知之间关系的证据是有限的。我们检查了静息心率 (RHR)、访视间心率变异 (VVHRV)、脑容量和认知障碍之间的关联。研究样本包括参加妇女健康倡议记忆研究及其辅助 MRI 子研究（WHIMS-MRI 1 和 WHIMS-MRI 2）且没有心血管疾病史的绝经后妇女，其中 493 名有 1 名女性和 299 名有 2 名脑磁共振成像 (MRI) 扫描。从基线访问 (1996–1998) 开始每年获取 HR 读数。RHR 计算为所有可用 HR 读数的平均值，VVHRV 计算为标准差。在 2005 年至 2006 年期间（WHIMS-MRI 1）和大约 5 年后（WHIMS-MRI 2）进行了脑部 MRI 扫描。认知障碍被定义为在 2017 年 12 月 30 日之前发生的轻度认知障碍或可能的痴呆。在第一次 MRI 检查时，RHR 升高与更大的脑损伤体积相关（7.86 cm3 [6.48, 9.24] vs 4.78 cm3 [3.39, 6.17]， p 值 <0.0001）并且脑部 MRI 检查之间的病变体积显着增加（6.20 cm3 [4.81, 7.59] 对比 4.28 cm3 [2.84, 5.73]，p 值 = 0.0168）。较大的缺血性病变体积与较高的认知障碍风险相关（风险比 [95% 置信区间]，2.02 [1.18，3.47]，p 值 = 0.0109）。RHR 和 VVHRV 均与认知障碍无关。在敏感性分析中，我们额外将有心血管疾病病史的女性纳入研究样本。主要结果与那些没有心血管疾病史的人一致。