Arterial stiffness and wave reflection: Biomarkers of cardiovascular risk

DOI

10.1016/j.artres.2009.02.002How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Arterial stiffness; Aorta; Pulse pressure; Pulse wave velocity; Wave reflection

Abstract

Arterial stiffness and excessive pressure pulsatility have emerged as important risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Arterial stiffness increases with age and in the presence of traditional cardiovascular disease risk factors, such as hypertension, diabetes and lipid disorders. Pathologic stiffening of large arteries with advancing age and risk factor exposure predominantly involves the elastic aorta and carotid arteries, whereas stiffness changes are relatively limited in muscular arteries. Aortic stiffening is associated with increased pulse wave velocity and pulse pressure, which are related but distinct measures of the pulsatile energy content of the pressure waveform. A dramatic increase in pulsatile energy content of pressure and flow waves in the arterial system places considerable pulsatile stress on the heart, large arteries and distal circulation. Large artery stiffening is associated with abnormalities in microvascular structure and function that may contribute to tissue damage, particularly in susceptible high flow organs such as the brain and kidneys. This brief review summarizes results of recent research on risk factors for and adverse effects of large artery stiffening.

Copyright

© 2009 Association for Research into Arterial Structure and Physiology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Open Access

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license.

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TY  - JOUR
AU  - Gary F. Mitchell
PY  - 2009
DA  - 2009/03/18
TI  - Arterial stiffness and wave reflection: Biomarkers of cardiovascular risk
JO  - Artery Research
SP  - 56
EP  - 64
VL  - 3
IS  - 2
SN  - 1876-4401
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.artres.2009.02.002
DO  - 10.1016/j.artres.2009.02.002
ID  - Mitchell2009
ER  -