Cardiovascular Aging and Damage in Patients with Iron Overload

Introduction: Vascular aging is characterized by endothelial dysfunction, impaired vasomotor regulation, and structural remodeling. Iron overload may accelerate these processes through oxidative stress, but its effects on cardiovascular regulation remain incompletely understood. Methods: We investigated cardiovascular dynamics in patients with hereditary hemochromatosis using wavelet-based time-frequency analysis of electrocardiographic and blood pressure signals. Continuous beat-to-beat recordings were analyzed to assess oscillatory patterns and phase coherence across physiologically relevant frequency bands. Results: Patients with iron overload exhibited significant alterations compared with healthy controls, including reduced cardiac-related variability, increased peripheral blood pressure oscillations, and disrupted phase coherence between cardiac and vascular signals. These findings indicate impaired integration between central cardiac activity and peripheral vascular regulation. Conclusions: Iron overload is associated with early cardiovascular dysregulation, likely driven by autonomic imbalance and vascular dysfunction. Wavelet-based metrics may enable sensitive detection of subclinical alterations and improve early risk stratification in patients with iron metabolism disorders.