Cardiovascular Risk Factors Accelerate Progression of Vascular Aging in the General Population Results From the CRAVE Study (Cardiovascular Risk Factors Affecting Vascular Age)

• Published in: Hypertension (Dallas, Tex. 1979) Vol. 70; no. 5; pp. 1057 - 1064
• Main Authors: Terentes-Printzios, Dimitrios, Vlachopoulos, Charalambos, Xaplanteris, Panagiotis, Ioakeimidis, Nikolaos, Aznaouridis, Konstantinos, Baou, Katerina, Kardara, Despina, Georgiopoulos, Georgios, Georgakopoulos, Christos, Tousoulis, Dimitrios
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Heart Association, Inc 01.11.2017
• Subjects: Adult; Aging - physiology; Aorta - physiopathology; Blood Pressure Determination; Brachial Artery - physiopathology; Cardiovascular Diseases - epidemiology; Cardiovascular Diseases - prevention & control; Carotid Intima-Media Thickness; Diagnostic Techniques, Cardiovascular; Female; Greece - epidemiology; Humans; Hypertension - diagnosis; Hypertension - epidemiology; Hypertension - physiopathology; Male; Middle Aged; Prospective Studies; Pulse Wave Analysis - methods; Risk Factors; Statistics as Topic; atherosclerosis; endothelium; pulse wave analysis; aging; vascular stiffness; pulse wave velocity; carotid intima-media thickness
• ISSN: 0194-911X; 1524-4563
• DOI: 10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.117.09633

Vascular aging, as assessed by structural and functional arterial properties, is an independent predictor of cardiovascular risk. We hypothesized that the number of cardiovascular risk factors determines the progression of vascular aging. One hundred forty-two subjects (mean age 51.9 years, 94 men) without established cardiovascular disease were investigated in 2 examinations over a 2-year period. Subjects were classified at baseline according to their number of risk factors (from 0 to 2 and more). Subjects had determinations of carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity, aortic augmentation index, brachial flow-mediated dilatation, and common carotid intima–media thickness and their annual absolute changes were calculated. Subjects with more risk factors had a gradual higher annual progression of pulse wave velocity (0.092 m/s/y for 0, 0.152 m/s/y for 1, and 0.352 m/s/y for 2 and more; P=0.007). Patients with both hypertension and dyslipidemia have 4× higher annual progression rate compared with subjects without these risk factors (0.398 m/s/y versus 0.102 m/s/y). When only subjects 55 years old and under were considered, the progression rate of augmentation index was higher in subjects with more risk factors (1.15%/y versus 1.50%/y versus 2.99%/y, respectively; P=0.037). No association was found with the annual change of flow-mediated dilatation or carotid intima–media thickness. In the general population, increasing number of risk factors is associated with accelerated deterioration of specific indices of vascular aging, such as pulse wave velocity and augmentation index; in contrast, flow-mediated dilatation and carotid intima–media thickness are insensitive to such changes. Accordingly, the former may be more useful for gauging vascular aging.