The effect of age and gender on arterial stiffness in healthy Caucasian Canadians.
OBJECTIVE
We aimed to investigate age and gender differences in arterial stiffness, and whether this cardiovascular risk factor was detectable in healthy Caucasians before established disease was manifest.


BACKGROUND
A growing number of risk factors including diabetes, obesity, hypertension, hyperlipidaemia, smoking and age have been linked to the adverse cardiovascular end-points of myocardial infarction, stroke and heart failure. These risk factors lead to an increase in arterial stiffness. Measuring this stiffness at an early age may identify candidates for primary preventative intervention strategies by nurses.


METHODS
Caucasian Canadians (n = 176) were recruited. Peripheral and central blood pressure, pulse pressure, augmentation pressure, arterial compliance (augmentation index and pulse wave velocity) and sub-endocardial viability ratio (SEVR), were assessed using applanation tonometry (SphygmoCor system). Blood was drawn for fasting lipid and glucose profiling.


RESULTS
Women participants had significantly stiffer arteries than men (augmentation index: 28 SEM = 1% vs. 18 SEM = 2% respectively; p < 0.001). Pulse wave velocity, however, was not different (7.7 SEM = 0.2 m/s vs. 8.3 SEM = 0.1 m/s respectively; p < 0.001). Age was a strong predictor of arterial stiffening in both genders, but the effect was greater in women.


CONCLUSIONS
Women having stiffer arteries than men, thus at greater cardiovascular risk, may require earlier screening. The effect might be postmenopausal, and mechanisms require further investigation. However, both middle-aged men and women considering themselves 'healthy' may benefit from more proactive primary prevention.


CONCLUSIONS
Applanation tonometry, used extensively by nurses, provides early detection of central haemodynamic changes and vascular compliance at all ages. Knowledge of arterial stiffness could guide the management of primary prevention in the nursing cardiovascular risk reduction clinic.
Noon
Joseph P
JP
Faculty of Nursing, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada. joe.noon@shaw.ca
Trischuk
Timothy C
TC
Gaucher
Sylvia A
SA
Galante
Sean
S
Scott
Roger L
RL
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001794:Blood Pressure; D002170:Canada; D002319:Cardiovascular System / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006306:Health Surveys; D006439:Hemodynamics; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008365:Manometry / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014655:Vascular Resistance / Q000502:physiology*; D044465:White People