205 - The influence of ageing-related decrease in endothelial function on the stiffness of peripheral conducting arteries (ID 306)
Abstract
Background and Aims
Endothelium is the most widely spread endocrinal organ which modulates hemodynamic influences on the cardiovascular system. The aim of this study is to establish the degree of ageing-related decrease in endothelial capacity for endothelium dependent vasodilatation (EDV) and its mutual inter-relation with increase in the stiffness of peripheral arteries.
Methods
The test of reactive hyperaemia is the most adequate test for the noninvasive evaluation of the degree of endothelium dependent vasodilatation. Stiffness index is a parameter used to evaluate vascular tonus and structural changes in the peripheral vasculature. The examination was carried out on 30 healthy respondents of both sexes and different ages, with no manifested risk factors and symptoms of cardiovascular diseases, by means of evaluating the influence of endothelium dependent vasodilatation on the brachial artery, and the influence of stiffness index on the common carotid artery.
Results
With ageing, the functional capacity of the endothelium for EDV declines – in men, as early as in their twenties, in women, more considerably after the age of fifty. Over the course of ageing, a significant stiffness increase was recorded in respondents of both sexes, the correlation being summarized in the following formula: stiffness index = 0.026 X years of age + 5.1642.
Conclusions
Decrease in the capacity of peripheral arteries for EDV is in correlation with increase in the stiffness of peripheral arteries.
