Ostchega et al. (NHANES resting pulse)

Full name: Resting Pulse Rate Reference Data for Children, Adolescents, and Adults: United States, 1999-2008
Year: 2011
Sample size: n = 35.3K
Population: Civilian, noninstitutionalized US population; normative sample excluding conditions, medications, pregnancy, irregular pulse, abnormal thyroid function, and likely current infection that could affect resting pulse
Study type: Cross-sectional national reference survey (NHANES 1999-2008)
Link: View study

About this reference

This National Center for Health Statistics report presents survey-weighted resting-pulse percentiles from NHANES 1999-2008. The normative sample contained 35,302 participants across all ages, including 14,200 adults aged 20 and over. After approximately four minutes of quiet seated rest, a trained examining physician counted the radial pulse for 30 seconds and doubled it to beats per minute. FitnessNorms reproduces the report's adult sex-specific P5, P25, P50, P75, and P95 values in its four published age groups without interpolation or re-binning.

Known limitations

The displayed adult cells contain 14,200 participants; the reference-page n=35,302 includes the report's children and adolescents as well
Each participant contributed one seated manual pulse measurement, so day-to-day biological variation is not represented
The 80+ cells are relatively small (197 males and 219 females), and the report does not provide more detailed older-adult age bands
US data collected in 1999-2008 may not represent other countries, institutionalized adults, or modern wearable-device resting-heart-rate algorithms

Used for

Resting Heart Rate