Age-related changes in reservoir and excess components of central aortic pressure in asymptomatic adults

Study of humans aging has presented difficulties in separating the aging process from concomitant disease and/or in defining normality and abnormality during its development. In accordance with this, aging associates structural and functional changes evidenced in variations in vascular parameters witch suffer alterations during atherosclerosis and have been proposed as early markers of the disease. The absence of adequate tools to differentiate the expected (normal) vascular changes due to aging from those related with a vascular disease is not a minor issue. For an individual, an early diagnosis of a vascular disease should be as important as the diagnosis of a healthy vascular aging. Recent studies have proposed that the capacitive or reservoir function of the aorta and large elastic arteries plays a major role in determining the pulse wave morphology. The arterial pressure waveform can be explained in terms of a reservoir pressure, related to the arterial system compliance, and an “excess” or wave-related pressure, associated with the traveling waves. The aim of this study was to evaluate, by means of a mathematical approach, age-related changes in measured, reservoir and excess central aortic pressure in order to determine if age-related changes are concentrated in particular decades of life. Central aortic pressure waveform was non-invasively obtained in healthy subjects (age range: 20–69 years old). Age-related profiles in measured, reservoir and excess pressure were calculated.