Exercise aortic stiffness: reproducibility and relation to end-organ damage in men

Area of Science:

• Cardiovascular Physiology
• Gerontology
• Nephrology

Background:

• Resting aortic stiffness (aortic PWV) predicts cardiovascular outcomes.
• Exercise hemodynamics can reveal hidden cardiovascular abnormalities.
• The exercise response of aortic PWV has not been previously studied.

Purpose of the Study:

• Develop a method to measure aortic PWV during exercise (exercise aPWV).
• Assess the reproducibility of exercise aPWV measurements.
• Investigate the relationship between exercise aPWV and subclinical end-organ damage, specifically kidney function, in aging men.

Main Methods:

• Healthy younger (30±8 years) and older (54±8 years) men underwent cardiovascular assessment at rest and during low-intensity cycling.
• Aortic PWV and central blood pressure were measured using tonometry.
• Kidney function was assessed by estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR); 24-hour ambulatory BP monitoring was also performed.

Main Results:

• Exercise aPWV demonstrated good reproducibility (intraclass correlations=0.874).
• Exercise aPWV increased significantly from resting values in both younger (26%) and older (19%) men.
• In older men, exercise aPWV, but not resting aPWV, strongly correlated with eGFR (r=-0.633, P=0.005), even after adjustments.

Conclusions:

• Exercise aPWV measurement is reproducible.
• Exercise aPWV is significantly associated with kidney function in healthy older men.
• Further research is needed to understand the physiological and clinical implications of elevated exercise aPWV.