Aim To explore the relationship between cumulative heart rate exposure (cumHR) and brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV). Methods A total of 7904 participants were selected from Kailuan Study stroke cohort and elderly population cohort to compose observation population, and finally 5153 cases were included in the study cohort. According to cumHR, the research subjects were divided into four groups. The correlation between cumHR and baPWV was analyzed by partial correlation analysis. The effects of cumHR on baPWV were analyzed by multivariate linear regression and multivariate Logistic regression. Results With the increase of cumHR, the average level of baPWV and the detection rate of baPWV≥1400 cm/s were on the rise. The results of partial correlation analysis showed that cumHR was positively correlated with baPWV (r＝0.35, P＜0.05), and after adjusting age and sex, cumHR was still positively correlated with baPWV (r＝0.24, P＜0.05). Multivariate linear regression analysis showed that cumHR increased by 1 beat/minute, baPWV increased 1.071 cm/s. Logistic regression analysis showed that after correction of other confounding factors, compared with the cumHR first group, cumHR second group, third group and fourth group were risk factors for baPWV≥1400 cm/s, and OR values (95%CI) were respectively 1.432 (1.121-1.829), 1.738 (1.371-2.204) and 2.475 (1.949-3.143). Conclusions cumHR is positively correlated with baPWV. cumHR is a risk factor for the increase of pulse wave velocity.