Absence of Age-Related Increase in Central Arterial Stiffness in Physically Active Women

Abstract

Abstract-Increased arterial stiffness is thought to contribute to the increased incidence of cardiovascular disease with age.Little, however, is known about the influence of aging on central and peripheral arterial stiffness in females. Moreover, it is unknown whether physical activity status influences age-related increases in arterial stiffness in females. Arterial pulse wave velocity (PWV) and augmentation index (AI, applanation tonometry) were measured in 53 healthy females, including 10 premenopausal (Pre-S) and 18 postmenopausal (Post-S) sedentary women, and 9 premenopausal (Pre-PA) and 16 postmenopausal (Post-PA) physically active women. In the sedentary women, there were no age-related differences in arterial blood pressure, but aortic PWV and carotid AI (measures of central arterial stiffness) were higher (PϽ.01) in Post-S versus Pre-S (1065Ϯ110 versus 690Ϯ80 cm/sec and 16.5%Ϯ1.8% versus 0.3%Ϯ1.6%, respectively); however, there were no significant differences in leg and arm PWV (measures of peripheral arterial stiffness). Systolic and mean arterial blood pressures were higher (PϽ.05) in Post-PA versus Pre-PA. Despite this and in contrast to the sedentary women, aortic PWV and AI were not different in Post-PA versus Pre-PA. Stepwise multiple regression indicated that maximal oxygen consumption, plasma total cholesterol, and plasma LDL-cholesterol were significant independent predictors and together explained up to 50% of the variability in central arterial stiffness. We concluded that (1) central, but not peripheral, arterial stiffness increases with age in sedentary healthy females in the absence of age-related increases in arterial blood pressure; (2) significant age-related increases in central arterial stiffness are not observed in highly physically active women; and (3) Key Words: exercise Ⅲ aging Ⅲ pulse wave velocity Ⅲ augmentation index Ⅲ arterial compliance T he stiffness of the "central" arteries (eg, aortic, carotid) increases with age in males, 1-3 as indicated by an increase in PWV or earlier pressure wave reflections (ie, increased AI). 1-3These increases in arterial stiffness are thought to contribute to age-related increases in the incidence of cardiovascular disease. 4,5Much less is known about the influence of aging on arterial stiffness in females. A recent report from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA) 2 found that aortic PWV and carotid AI increased progressively with age in 50 healthy females (26 to 96 years) in whom only modest age-related increases in blood pressure were observed. No data are available, however, regarding the effects of aging on peripheral arterial stiffness in healthy females. This is noteworthy in that the elastic properties of arteries are not necessarily uniform, 3 and aging has been reported to have different effects on the stiffness of peripheral (eg, brachial and radial) and central arteries in men. 6 Regular physical activity is associated with reduced risk of cardiovascular disease. 7,8 In the BLSA mentioned above, older adult males who per...

Relationship between blood pressure parameters and pulse wave velocity in normotensive and hypertensive subjects: invasive study

“…Those findings are consistent with our results. In some studies, PWV was only correlated with SBP, 20,21 but in others with both SBP and DBP. 22 Sa Cunha et al 23 suggested gender difference; SBP showed correlation with PWV in both genders, whereas DBP was correlated with PWV only in women.…”

“…Although BP is one of the strongest factors influencing PWV, varying correlation coefficients have been reported between the various PWV (aorta-leg-arm) and BP (systolic, diastolic, mean, pulse) using non-invasive methods. 5,[18][19][20][21][22][23][24] This variation may be attributable, at least in part, to the inherent variability of both PWV and BP within and across individual subjects and also to the method of BP 25 and PWV measurements.…”

Age and cardiorespiratory fitness are associated with arterial stiffening and left ventricular remodelling

“…11,12 Moreover, arterial stiffness and BP were negatively associated with cardiorespiratory fitness. 13 When considering the pathophysiological implications of vascular stiffening, it is also important not to overlook changes in the heart to which the blood vessels are coupled. In accordance with the concept of 'vascular-ventricular coupling' in that morphological and functional changes in the left ventricle and vasculature are closely coupled, we hypothesized that higher cardiorespiratory fitness is associated with the smaller age-related increases in arterial stiffness and BP, and that smaller increases attenuate LV remodelling.…”

Diastolic blood pressure is an important determinant of augmentation index and pulse wave velocity in young, healthy males

“…18,19 Other studies reported that augmentation index was correlated to both SBP and DBP 20 or only to SBP. 21,22 Interestingly, Cameron et al 21 found in a study population of 262 hypertensive subjects that augmentation index was correlated to DBP only in males and that this relation was lost when augmentation index was normalised for age. There are also inconsistent results in studies only measuring mean blood pressure.…”

“…Some studies showed that PWV was only correlated to SBP. 22,25 Others found that PWV was correlated to both SBP and DBP 18 or was correlated to SBP in both men and women, but was correlated to DBP only in women. 26 The controversial results reported in the literature may be attributed to the large variability in the population studied, such as the broad age range, gender distribution and the presence of different diseases or drug regimens.…”