Vascular aging and its relationship with lifestyles and other risk factors in the general Spanish population: Early Vascular Ageing Study

Abstract

Objectives: To describe the prevalence of healthy vascular aging (HVA), normal vascular aging and early vascular aging (EVA) in a sample of Spanish population without cardiovascular disease. The relationship of vascular aging with lifestyle, cardiovascular risk factors, psychological and inflammatory risk factors is also analyzed. Methods: A total of 501 participants were recruited (49.70% men, aged 55.90 ± 14.24 years) by random sampling. Vascular aging was defined in three steps: Step 1: participants with vascular damage in carotid arteries or peripheral artery disease were classified as EVA. Step 2: with the percentiles of carotid-to-femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV) we used three criteria, first, the 10th and 90th cfPWV percentiles of the population studied by age and sex; second, the 10th and 90th percentiles of the European population reference values and third, the 25th and 75th cfPWV percentiles of the population studied by age and sex. Step 3: participants with hypertension or type 2 diabetes mellitus included in HVA were reclassified as normal vascular aging. Arterial stiffness was assessed with cfPWV using a Sphygmocor device. Physical activity was measured with an accelerometer. Psychological factors, lifestyle and other clinical information were obtained by standard questionnaire. Results: The global prevalence of HVA was 8 and 14% (men 8 and 10%, women 9 and 18%), and 22 and 18% (men 26 and 23%, women 17 and 12%) for EVA, using criteria a and b, respectively. In the logistic regression analysis, vascular aging maintains positive associations with more sedentary time [odds ratio (OR) = 2.37 and 4.51], having triglycerides above 150 mg/dl (OR = 6.55 and 4.06), abdominal obesity (OR = 2.73 and 2.90), increased uric acid (OR = 4.63 and 2.98) and insulin resistance index homeostatic model assessment (OR = 4.05 and 6.78), and a negative association with less physical activity (OR = 0.29 and 0.28) using criteria a and b, respectively. Conclusion: One in 10 has HVA and one in five EVA. The prevalence of EVA is higher in men. Study results suggest that preventive strategies aimed at increasing physical activity, reducing sedentary time and decreasing obesity and insulin resistance improve vascular aging.

The Relationship Between Alcohol Consumption With Vascular Structure and Arterial Stiffness in the Spanish Population: EVA Study

“…The EVA study was a descriptive transversal study (NCT02623894) and was intended to evaluate the association between different risk factors and vascular accelerated aging study. First results for the EVA study can be found in a previously published (Gomez-Sanchez et al, 2020).…”

Association Between Lipid Profiles and Arterial Stiffness in Chinese Patients With Hypertension: Insights From the CSPPT

“…5 However, other cerebrovascular disease (CeVD) modifiable factors (such as hyperlipidemia, smoking, gender, and obesity) have yielded inconsistent results, especially hyperlipidemia. [6][7][8] Zhao et al 6 who examined 1133 Chinese individuals aged 50 to 90 years from a community showed that only low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) was associated with high baPWV, whereas other lipid variables, such as total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), were not. Meanwhile, Yiming et al 8 conducted a cross-sectional study in Xinjiang and showed that just TGs were associated with baPWV.…”

Relation of Helicobacter pylori infection to peripheral arterial stiffness and 10-year cardiovascular risk in subjects with diabetes mellitus

“…Multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to investigate effect of HP infection on baPWV by adjusting for various well-known risk factors of peripheral arterial stiffness step by step, included the following well established variables by other studies: age, BMI, smoking, plasma levels of blood glucose, blood pressure, plasma lipids profiles as well as hsCRP, uric acid, and Hcy. 14 , 18 – 21 Otherwise, FBG can reflect the blood glucose level at the time of physical examination, while HbA1c can represent the average blood glucose level for the last 3 months, so when analysis the influence of HP infection on arterial stiffness, we corrected both FBG and HbA1c in the multivariate logistic regression analysis. Collinearity statistics were used to assess collinearity of the parameters used in the multivariate models.…”

“…In subjects with DM, arterial stiffness is closely associated with the progression of cardiovascular complications. 23 The pathology of arterial stiffness in subjects with DM is multifactorial and includes aging, obesity, smoking, 18 advanced glycation end products, 19 uncontrolled blood pressure, increased plasma levels of uric acid and hsCRP, 20 plasma lipid profiles and Hcy also related with progress of arterial stiffness in subjects with DM. 21 HP is gram-negative microaerophilic spiral bacterium, it has been suggested that the production of excessive amounts of proinflammatory factors and the cross-mimicry between HP and host antigens contribute to the pathologies of atherosclerosis.…”