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Aging and Vascular Disease: A Multidisciplinary Overview
Jeanette A Maier1,2, Vicente Andrés3,4, Sara Castiglioni1
1Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Università di Milano, 20157 Milano, Italy.
Insights
Vascular aging, the arteries' age-dependent decline, predicts heart events. Early detection of vascular aging aids risk identification and disease prevention strategies.
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular Medicine
- Gerontology
- Vascular Biology
Background:
- Vascular aging, characterized by arterial structure and function decline, is a key predictor of cardiovascular events and mortality.
- Vascular degeneration can manifest before clinical symptoms, enabling early risk identification and intervention.
- Early assessment of vascular aging offers a window to minimize disease progression.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review age-dependent alterations in arterial structure and function.
- To describe clinical tools for early diagnosis of vascular aging.
- To explore cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying vascular aging.
Main Methods:
- Comprehensive literature search of PubMed, MEDLINE, and Google Scholar (2000-present).
- Synthesis of findings by a network of vascular medicine experts.
- Description of age-related vascular changes, diagnostic tools, and molecular pathways.
Main Results:
- Vascular aging involves structural and functional arterial changes over time.
- Clinical tools exist for early detection of vascular aging.
- Cellular and molecular events contribute to age-dependent vascular deterioration.
Conclusions:
- Further research is needed to standardize vascular aging quantification.
- Development of tailored physical activity, nutritional, pharmacological, and social interventions is crucial.
- Effective strategies may prevent, delay, or even reverse vascular aging and its consequences.
Abstract:
Vascular aging, i.e., the deterioration of the structure and function of the arteries over the life course, predicts cardiovascular events and mortality. Vascular degeneration can be recognized before becoming clinically symptomatic; therefore, its assessment allows the early identification of individuals at risk. This opens the possibility of minimizing disease progression. To review these issues, a search was completed using PubMed, MEDLINE, and Google Scholar from 2000 to date. As a network of clinicians and scientists involved in vascular medicine, we here describe the structural and functional age-dependent alterations of the arteries, the clinical tools for an early diagnosis of vascular aging, and the cellular and molecular events implicated. It emerges that more studies are necessary to identify the best strategy to quantify vascular aging, and to design proper physical activity programs, nutritional and pharmacological strategies, as well as social interventions to prevent, delay, and eventually revert the disease.
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