Objective To investigate the effect of inhaled anticholinergics on heart rate recovery (HRR) in patients with stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Methods Sixty clinically stable patients with stage Ⅱ-Ⅳ COPD according to the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease guidelines were recruited. HRR was analyzed in this study between 28 patients who had received tiotropium≥1 year and 32 patients who never used anticholinergics as control, so as to reflect parasympathetic reactivity of the heart. Results HRR was significantly lower in the subjects with tiotropium than that in the controls [(16±6) beats/min vs. (22±8) beats/min, P<0.05]. Multivariate regression analysis revealed that anticholinergics medication could be used as an independent predictor of HRR in the COPD patients. Conclusion Anticholinergics can affect cardiac autonomic function of stable COPD patients.