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Vascular ageing: moving from bench towards bedside
Rachel E Climie1,2,3, Jordi Alastruey4, Christopher C Mayer5
1Menzies Institute for Medical Research, University of Tasmania, 17 Liverpool St, 7000 Hobart, Australia.
Insights
Vascular ageing (VA) reflects cumulative cardiovascular risk factor effects on arteries. Understanding and measuring VA can help identify individuals at high risk early, aiding cardiovascular disease prevention.
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular Medicine
- Vascular Biology
- Public Health
Background:
- Cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention is a major public health concern.
- Early identification of individuals with sub-clinical cardiovascular risk is crucial for disease management.
- Vascular ageing (VA) represents progressive deterioration of vascular structure and function, linked to CVD.
Purpose of the Study:
- To address key questions surrounding vascular ageing (VA).
- To enhance clinical understanding and application of VA assessment.
- To bridge the gap between VA research and routine clinical practice.
Main Methods:
- This is a state-of-the-art review.
- Expert network of scientists, clinicians, engineers, and industry partners.
- Focused on addressing six critical questions regarding VA.
Main Results:
- Vascular ageing (VA) integrates the lifelong impact of cardiovascular risk factors on the arterial wall.
- VA has the potential to identify individuals at elevated cardiovascular risk during early disease development.
- Current clinical adoption of VA measurement is limited by lack of consensus and practical challenges.
Conclusions:
- Standardizing the characterization of physiological versus pathological VA is necessary.
- Routine clinical measurement of VA is not yet established but is a goal for improved CVD risk stratification.
- Further research and consensus-building are needed to facilitate the clinical implementation of VA assessment.
Abstract:
Prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains one of the largest public health challenges of our time. Identifying individuals at increased cardiovascular risk at an asymptomatic, sub-clinical stage is of paramount importance for minimizing disease progression as well as the substantial health and economic burden associated with overt CVD. Vascular ageing (VA) involves the deterioration in vascular structure and function over time and ultimately leads to damage in the heart, brain, kidney, and other organs. Vascular ageing encompasses the cumulative effect of all cardiovascular risk factors on the arterial wall over the life course and thus may help identify those at elevated cardiovascular risk, early in disease development. Although the concept of VA is gaining interest clinically, it is seldom measured in routine clinical practice due to lack of consensus on how to characterize VA as physiological vs. pathological and various practical issues. In this state-of-the-art review and as a network of scientists, clinicians, engineers, and industry partners with expertise in VA, we address six questions related to VA in an attempt to increase knowledge among the broader medical community and move the routine measurement of VA a little closer from bench towards bedside.
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