Hemorheological parameters and aging

There is increasing evidence that impaired hemorheological parameters are associated with increased risk of cardio- and cerebrovascular events. The aim of our present study was to examine the relationship of these parameters to the advancing age.

The data of 6236 cardio- and cerebrovascular patients (3774 males, mean age 59.8 +/- 13.2 years and 2462 females, mean age 60.9 +/- 12.8 years) were included into this analysis. Males and females were divided into three groups, A < 45 years of age (young), B 45-65 years (middle-aged), C > 65 years (old). To exclude the effect of risk profile, previous diseases and medication, 623 patients (397 males, mean age 60.2 +/- 12.7 yrs and 226 females, mean age 60.5 +/- 12.4 yrs) were selected from the examined group with matching parameters. Blood was collected after an overnight fasting. Hematocrit, fibrinogen, red blood cell aggregation, plasma and whole blood viscosity were determined.

All the measured parameters correlated significantly with advancing age in the whole population (p < 0.01), however the values of the correlation coefficients were very low. On the other hand, examining the different age-groups we found that these parameters did not consequently correlate with age, in fact hematocrit, red blood cell aggregation and whole blood viscosity values were negatively correlated with age in old males (p < 0.05). In the selected population these parameters did not correlate with advancing age.

In the whole population the correlation of hemorheological parameters and advancing age may be just of statistical, but not clinical significance because of the high number of subjects. In the selected population these parameters did not correlate with advancing age. Our results suggest that these parameters are mostly independent of aging, increased values are not associated with older age but the more frequently occurring diseases.