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Updated: Sep 29, 2026
Non-invasive Assessment of Microvascular and Endothelial Function
Published on: January 29, 2013
An observational study of microcirculation among healthy individuals by age and sex
Yun-Ping Yang1, Ching-Tang Chiu1, Anne Chao1
1Department of Anesthesiology, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
Objective:
This study measured normal ranges of microcirculatory parameters in healthy individuals and investigated differences in parameters by age and sex.
Methods:
Participants were enrolled into three groups with equal numbers of male and female: young (20-39 years), middle-aged (40-59 years), and elderly (60-79 years). Sublingual microcirculation images were obtained using the incident dark field (IDF).
Results:
A total of 75 female and 75 male healthy individuals were enrolled. The elderly group had a higher TVD (26.5 [2] vs. 25.2 [1.8]; p = 0.019) and a lower PPV (97 [2] vs. 98 [3]; p = 0.03) than did the young group. In the elderly group, systolic blood pressure (SBP) and mean arterial pressure (MAP) were moderately and positively correlated with MFI score (r = 0.407, p < 0.05, and r = 0.403, p < 0.05, respectively). The female participants had a lower MFI score than did the male participants (2.9 [2.8-3] vs. 3.0 [2.9-3]; p = 0.015).
Conclusions:
This study revealed the range of microcirculatory parameters between different ages and sexes in healthy individuals. We found that blood pressure levels were correlated with microcirculatory parameters, especially in elders and female.
