Characteristics of healthy vascular ageing in pooled population-based cohort studies

Abstract

Participants with healthy vascular ageing (HVA), belonging to the lowest end of the PWV distribution, are in general characterized by an up to 14 years estimated younger biological (vascular) age than those with higher PWV values, and have lower levels of risk factors.

Cardiac changes associated with vascular aging

“…Novel research by Rogers et al indicates that there are also regional variations of PWV, with the proximal aorta affected more with age . Although PWV generally increases with age even in healthy populations, individuals with fewer CV risk factors will have lower PWV at a given age than those with a higher risk factor profile . Higher PWV in older adults is also associated with cognitive impairment .…”

“…5 Although PWV generally increases with age even in healthy populations, individuals with fewer CV risk factors will have lower PWV at a given age than those with a higher risk factor profile. 6,7 Higher PWV in older adults is also associated with cognitive impairment. 8 The clinical manifestation of this ageassociated increase in arterial stiffness is hypertension, which most commonly presents as isolated or predominant elevation of systolic blood pressure and accelerates the development of atherosclerosis.…”

Measurement of arterial stiffness and vascular aging in community pharmacies—The ASINPHAR@2action project

“…Furthermore, the early reversion of this EVA process should allow for a shift in this trajectory toward a more favorable one, (for a review, see refs. ) in a close relation to the healthy vascular aging continuum …”

“…In recent years, great emphasis has been placed on the role of AS and central blood pressure (cBP) as measures of the cumulative effect of cardiovascular risk factors over the process of physiologic aging. These parameters, currently labeled as arterial “tissue biomarkers”, were shown to be independent predictors of major cardiovascular (CV) events, being robustly associated with multiple organ damage and cognitive impairment, and improving risk prediction when added to classic CV risk factors . Consequently, the assessment of AS and cBP is recommended as additional tests for the clinical evaluation of hypertensive patients (based on history, physical examination, and findings from routine laboratory tests), for estimating the global cardiovascular risk in the overall population, and for describing the vascular aging continuum …”

Assessing blood pressure and arterial aging in pharmacies—New hope for blood pressure control in the community?

“…Based on a given genetic background, lifelong exposure to damaging effects on the arterial wall (high BP, glycemia, smoking, low‐grade inflammation, sympathetic activation, as well as chronic inflammatory diseases) leads to increased AS, which in term gives rise to cardiovascular damage and clinical events. It has been widely accepted that quantification of arterial stiffness in the context of epidemiological and clinical studies is best performed by measurement of carotid‐femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV), a relatively simple and robust procedure, which can be assessed even on large research projects involving thousands of individuals …”