Related Experiment Videos
[Effect of age on brachial and carotid circulation in human arterial hypertension]
J Bouthier1, N P Chau, R Gitel
1Centre de diagnostic, hôpital Broussais, Paris, France.
Insights
Age over 45 in essential hypertension patients reduces common carotid artery blood flow, but not brachial artery hemodynamics. Correlations emerge between brachial and carotid circulation parameters in older hypertensive individuals.
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular Physiology
- Hypertension Research
- Non-invasive Hemodynamics
Background:
- Essential hypertension affects arterial hemodynamics.
- Age is a known factor influencing vascular function.
- Understanding age-related changes in hypertensive patients is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate age-related differences in brachial and common carotid artery hemodynamics in untreated essential hypertensive patients.
- To explore correlations between brachial and carotid artery parameters based on age.
Main Methods:
- Pulsed Doppler velocimetry used for non-invasive measurement of internal diameters and blood velocities.
- Study included 74 untreated essential hypertensive patients, divided into two age groups: younger than 45 and older than 45.
- Hemodynamic parameters of the right brachial artery and common carotid artery were analyzed.
Main Results:
- No significant differences in brachial artery diameter or blood velocity between age groups.
- Patients older than 45 showed decreased common carotid artery blood velocity compared to younger patients (p < 0.001), with no change in diameter.
- Significant correlations were found in patients older than 45 between common carotid and brachial artery diameter (r=0.45) and blood velocity (r=0.55).
Conclusions:
- Brachial artery circulation is unaffected by age in these hypertensive patients.
- Age over 45 is associated with reduced common carotid blood flow, suggesting age-related regulatory changes in hypertensive circulation.
- Stronger correlations between brachial and carotid parameters in older patients indicate potential age-related interference with vascular regulatory adjustments.
Abstract:
Right brachial artery and common carotid artery haemodynamic parameters were studied using pulsed Doppler velocimetry enabling non invasive measurements of their internal diameters and blood velocities in 74 untreated essential hypertensive patients subdivided in two groups of younger than (33 patients) and older than 45 years (41 patients). There were no significant differences in the haemodynamic parameters of brachial artery (i.e. diameter and blood velocity) between the two groups of patients. In the patients older than 45, there were no changes in the diameter of common carotid artery, but there was a decrease in carotid artery blood velocity as compared with patients younger than 45 (p less than 0.001). In the patients younger than 45, there were no correlations between the haemodynamic parameters of both circulations; in contrast, in patient older than 45 significant relationship were found between the common carotid artery diameter and the brachial artery diameter (r = 0.45, p less than 0.01) and between the blood velocity in the common carotid artery and in the brachial artery (r = 0.55, p less than 0.001). Thus, in these hypertensive patients, brachial artery circulation was not affected by age; but age older than 45 was associated with a decrease in common carotid blood flow, with no change in common carotid artery diameter. However, the existence of strong correlations between brachial and carotid artery diameters and blood velocities in patients older than 45, suggests that age might interfere, in hypertensive patients, with the specific regulatory adjustments of the brachial and carotid circulations.