title: Uruguay eHealth initiative: preliminary studies regarding an integrated approach to evaluate vascular age and preclinical atherosclerosis (CUiiDARTE project).
abstract: In this work we present an initiative to develop a national (Uruguayan) program to evaluate vascular age and to detect pre-clinical atherosclerosis using: gold-standard technologies; complimentary and integrative approaches to asses arterial functional and structural indexes; data bases systems to process, analyze and determine normal and reference values and to identify the most sensitive markers of vascular changes for different ages. We evaluated, in a Uruguayan population complementary structural and functional vascular parameters that associate aging-related changes and are considered markers of sub-clinical atherosclerosis. Traditional CV risk factors were assessed. The subjects (n=281) were submitted to non-invasive vascular studies to evaluate: 1) Common carotid artery (CCA) intima-media thickness and diameter waveforms, 2) CCA stiffness, 3) aortic stiffness (pulse wave velocity) and 4) peripheral and central pressure pulse wave derived parameters. Age groups: 21-30, 31-40, 41-50, 51-60, and 61-70 years-old. Age-related profiles were obtained for the different vascular parameters, and their utility to assess vascular changes in young, middle-aged and old subjects was evaluated. The work has the strength of being the first that uses, in Latin-America an integrative approach to characterize vascular aging-related changes.
authors.affiliation: Physiology Department, School of Medicine, Centro Universitario de Investigación, Innovación y Diagnóstico Arterial, Republic University, General Flores 2125, Montevideo, Uruguay.
authors.forename: Ricardo L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Armentano
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bia
authors.forename: Yanina
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zócalo
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Torrado
authors.forename: Ignacio
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Farro
authors.forename: Federico
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Farro
authors.forename: Lucía
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Florio
authors.forename: Alicia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Olascoaga
authors.forename: Walter
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Alallon
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Negreira
authors.forename: Ricardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lluberas
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D050197:Atherosclerosis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010865:Pilot Projects; D015995:Prevalence; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D014583:Uruguay / Q000453:epidemiology