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Cardiovascular aging in health
1Laboratory of Cardiovascular Science, Gerontology Research Center, Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, Maryland 21224-6825, USA. lakattae@grc.nia.nih.gov
Insights
Understanding cardiovascular aging is key in geriatric medicine. This study quantifies age-associated cardiovascular changes to distinguish normal aging from disease in older adults.
Area of Science:
- Geriatric Medicine
- Cardiovascular Aging
- Cardiology
Background:
- Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are prevalent in older adults.
- Aging modifies CVD risk factors, clinical presentation, treatment, and prognosis.
- Distinguishing normal aging from disease-related limitations in the elderly is challenging.
Purpose of the Study:
- To quantitatively characterize age-associated alterations in cardiovascular structure and function in healthy individuals.
- To define the specific aspects of cardiovascular aging that contribute to increased CVD risk.
- To differentiate normal age-related functional changes from disease-induced limitations.
Main Methods:
- Utilized data from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study on Aging (BLSA).
- Characterized multiple aspects of cardiovascular structure and function across the lifespan.
- Controlled for interactions among age, disease, and lifestyle factors.
Main Results:
- Provided quantitative data on age-associated cardiovascular changes.
- Identified key modifications in cardiovascular structure and function due to aging.
- Highlighted the importance of considering lifestyle and disease interactions.
Conclusions:
- Characterizing normal cardiovascular aging is crucial for geriatric medicine.
- Understanding these changes helps in accurate diagnosis and management of CVD in the elderly.
- Differentiating normal aging from disease requires careful consideration of multiple interacting factors.
Abstract:
Major focuses of geriatric medicine are cardiovascular diseases with increases in prevalence in older people and how aging might modify the risk factors, clinical manifestations, treatment strategies, and prognoses of these diseases. Quantitative information on age-associated alterations in cardiovascular structure and function in health is essential to define and target the specific characteristics of the cardiovascular aging process that render it the major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. Such information also is required to differentiate among the limitations of elderly individuals that relate to disease and limitations that may fall within expected normal limits. Differences in cardiovascular function between older and younger individuals have been described extensively in the literature, but confusion often arises in the interpretation of these differences because of a failure to acknowledge or to control for interactions among age, disease, and lifestyle. The Baltimore Longitudinal Study on Aging has made an effort to characterize the effects of aging on multiple aspects of cardiovascular structure and function. The concepts that have evolved from this and other studies are discussed.
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