Estimated Pulse Wave Velocity as a Measure of Vascular Aging
Kevin S. Heffernan, Lee Stoner, Andrew S. London, Jacqueline A. Augustine, Wesley K. Lefferts.
Abstract
Carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV), the referent measure of aortic stiffness, is an established measure of vascular aging. In studies where cfPWV cannot be measured, alternative methods are needed to help promote research on vascular aging. This study examines the construct validity of a measure of PWV estimated from age and blood pressure (ePWV).
Introduction
A central tenet of geroscience is that physiological aging can be influenced by contextual and behavioral changes, as well as lifestyle and medical interventions, that enhance healthspan (i.e., the compression of morbidity until the end of life). Within the field of geroscience, vascular aging is emerging as an important health construct both because it is malleable and because it is associated with a broad array of health outcomes in mid- and later life.
Methods
Participants
For all three of the distinct studies, we recruited generally healthy volunteers varying in CVD risk factor burden from the local Syracuse community and Syracuse University by means of radio and newspaper advertisement, e-mail listservs, social media posts, and posted flyers.
Ethics statement
All study procedures were approved by the Syracuse University Institutional Review Board. All participants gave written informed consent prior to data collection.
Study design
Participants were instructed to refrain from caffeine, non-essential medication (e.g., nutritional supplements), alcohol, and physical exercise on the day they came to the lab for the vascular assessments. All visits to the lab were scheduled in the morning.
Discussion:
This study set out to explore ePWV as a measure of vascular aging when compared to the referent measure cfPWV and other established measures of vascular aging. To this end, this study specifically sought to: examine the strength of association of ePWV with other measures of vascular aging; and assess the sensitivity and specificity of elevated ePWV for discriminating elevated cfPWV.
Acknowledgments:
We wish to thank Alessandro Giudici, Ph.D. for his insightful comments and suggestions that helped guide the revision of our work.
Citation: Heffernan KS, Stoner L, London AS, Augustine JA, Lefferts WK (2023) Estimated pulse wave velocity as a measure of vascular aging. PLoS ONE 18(1): e0280896. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0280896
Editor: Giacomo Pucci, University of Perugia, ITALY
Received: October 8, 2022; Accepted: January 10, 2023; Published: January 26, 2023.
Copyright: © 2023 Heffernan et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Data Availability: All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files.
Funding: This research received funding from American College of Sports Medicine, American Heart Association, Syracuse University School of Education Sydney Young and Creative Grant Awards, and Dairy Management Inc / Dairy Research Institute (1154). This research also benefited from grant, P30AG066583, Center for Aging and Policy Studies, awarded to Syracuse University, in consortium with Cornell University and the University at Albany, by the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
