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Cardiovascular Aging: Perspectives From Humans to Rodents
1Laboratory of Cardiovascular Science, Gerontology Research Center, National Institute on Aging, Intramural Research Program, National Institute of Health, Baltimore, MD.
Insights
Aging leads to specific cardiovascular changes impacting heart health. Understanding these alterations in healthy individuals is key to preventing age-related cardiovascular diseases.
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular aging research
- Human physiology
- Gerontology
Background:
- Cardiovascular diseases are a major health concern in aging populations.
- Understanding age-associated cardiovascular changes in healthy individuals is crucial for disease prevention.
- The Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA) has studied cardiovascular structure and function over two decades.
Purpose of the Study:
- To quantify age-associated alterations in cardiovascular structure and function in healthy humans.
- To identify specific cardiovascular changes related to aging.
- To explore the interplay between lifestyle, cardiovascular disease, and aging.
Main Methods:
- Longitudinal study of community-dwelling volunteers (BLSA).
- Rigorous screening for clinical and occult cardiovascular disease.
- Characterization of lifestyle factors, including exercise habits.
- Assessment of resting cardiovascular structure, function, and reserve capacity.
Main Results:
- Identified specific age-related changes in resting cardiovascular structure and function.
- Characterized alterations in cardiovascular reserve capacity with advancing age.
- Provided insights into cardiovascular aging in healthy humans.
Conclusions:
- Aging induces distinct changes in cardiovascular structure and function.
- These changes in healthy aging may inform strategies to prevent cardiovascular diseases.
- Animal models offer mechanistic insights into human cardiovascular aging.
Abstract:
In order to define and target the specific characteristics of cardiovascular aging that render aging as a risk factor for diseases (such as atherosclerosis, hypertension, stroke, and heart failure) that reach epidemic proportions among older individuals, it is essential to develop quantitative information on age-associated alterations in cardiovascular structure and function in health. A sustained effort, over the past two decades, has been applied to characterize the multiple effects of aging on health in cardiovascular structure and function in a single study population (BLSA). In these studies, community-dwelling, volunteer participants are rigorously screened to detect both clinical and occult cardiovascular disease and characterized with respect to lifestyle (e.g., exercise habits), in an attempt to deconvolute interactions among lifestyle, cardiovascular disease, and the aging process in health. Some specific changes in resting cardiovascular structure and function and cardiovascular reserve capacity that occur with advancing age in these healthy humans have been identified and are presented here. These observations in humans are extended by relevant experiments from animal models to provide possible mechanistic insight.
