Integrated Evaluation of Age-Related Changes in Structural and Functional Vascular Parameters Used to Assess Arterial Aging, Subclinical Atherosclerosis, and Cardiovascular Risk in Uruguayan Adults: CUiiDARTE Project
This work was carried out in a Uruguayan (South American) population to characterize aging-associated physiological arterial changes. Parameters markers of subclinical atherosclerosis and that associate age-related changes were evaluated in healthy people. A conservative approach was used and people with nonphysiological and pathological conditions were excluded. Then, we excluded subjects with (a) cardiovascular (CV) symptoms, (b) CV disease, (c) diabetes mellitus or renal failure, and (d) traditional CV risk factors (other than age and gender). Subjects ( ) were submitted to non-invasive vascular studies (gold-standard techniques), to evaluate (1) common (CCA), internal, and external carotid plaque prevalence, (2) CCA intima-media thickness and diameter, (3) CCA stiffness (percentual pulsatility, compliance, distensibility, and stiffness index), (4) aortic stiffness (carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity), and (5) peripheral and central pressure wave-derived parameters. Age groups: ≤20, 21–30, 31–40, 41–50, 51–60, 61–70, and 71–80 years old. Age-related structural and functional vascular parameters profiles were obtained and analyzed considering data from other populations. The work has the strength of being the first, in Latin America, that uses an integrative approach to characterize vascular aging-related changes. Data could be used to define vascular aging and abnormal or disease-related changes. 1. Introduction Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality allover the world. In general terms, atherosclerosis has a long asymptomatic latent period, which would provide an opportunity for the development of effective strategies of treatment and/or prevention. Even more, an early identification of subjects at increased risk of developing atherosclerosis would be important since prevention strategies that could have the highest impact in cardiovascular outcomes at the population level would be those instituted early. Furthermore, prevention would be more effective if tailored to individual risk. Several methods have been proposed to stratify the cardiovascular risk, taking into account data mainly derived from European and/or North American populations. Those methods are mostly based on the identification of factors associated with the etiology and development of atherosclerosis (traditional cardiovascular risk factors). However, it is noteworthy that given the ethnic diversity in the atherosclerosis profile, the dissimilar risk associations and the different levels of genetic-environmental interactions in different
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