RGA research finds resting heart rate outperforms traditional underwriting metrics. The insurer has begun integrating RHR into its facultative platform for complex cases.
REINSURANCE GROUP OF AMERICA INC currently carries an Alpha Score of n/a, giving AlphaScala's model a neutral read on the setup.
RGA research shows resting heart rate is a stronger predictor of mortality than total cholesterol or body mass index, a finding that could alter how life insurers price risk. The analysis, drawn from UK Biobank data, found that elevated RHR correlates with higher mortality even after controlling for traditional underwriting factors, according to Dr. John J. Lefebre, RGA's vice president and senior technical global medical director.
The predictive power of RHR holds across age, sex, and health status, the researchers said. Dr. Guizhou Hu, vice president of risk analytics, said RHR outperformed total cholesterol and could substitute for BMI without meaningful loss of accuracy. That challenges the long-standing hierarchy of underwriting variables.
RGA has begun incorporating RHR into its facultative underwriting platform for complex cases, said John Cardus, vice president of global underwriting philosophy and education. The platform lets underwriters apply the metric in real time, improving consistency without adding complexity.
The metric captures dimensions of cardiovascular fitness and autonomic nervous system function that traditional measures miss, said Dr. Nico Vanzyl, senior vice president and chief medical director. Advances in photoplethysmography make RHR easy to measure accurately at scale, he added.
The broader implication is that insurers can improve risk differentiation and pricing precision by using simple, accessible data rather than adding more inputs. Richard Russell, vice president of biometric research, said RHR offers a way to extract deeper insight from existing information.
RGA (RGA) does not carry an Alpha Score on the platform, leaving its stance unscored. The UK Biobank dataset used in the study covers more than 500,000 participants. The research was published by RGA's global research and development team.
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