Cardiovascular aging score linked to future cardiovascular risk
Accelerated cardiovascular aging was linked to higher risk than normal aging, with a hazard ratio of 1.70 over a median 9.31 years.
Edited by Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
In an observational cohort study, researchers analyzed 8,096 people without cardiovascular disease from a Chinese community-based cohort. Their mean age was 56.6 years, and 5,226 were women. The researchers built a cardiovascular age score combining blood-vessel measurements with measures of body size, blood fats, blood sugar and inflammation. They classified cardiovascular aging as accelerated, normal or decelerated relative to participants’ actual ages.
Over a median 9.31 years, 815 participants (10.1%) died from cardiovascular causes or had a nonfatal stroke or heart attack. After accounting for age, sex and a standard Chinese cardiovascular risk score, accelerated aging was associated with higher relative risk than normal aging (hazard ratio 1.70). Decelerated aging was associated with lower relative risk (hazard ratio 0.71). The score also improved risk prediction beyond the standard score combined with an artery-stiffness-based age estimate.
Why it matters
Cardiovascular aging involves more than stiffening arteries. The study addressed whether measures of metabolism and inflammation could help identify age-related cardiovascular risk missed by conventional assessments.
Caveats
This observational study could not establish cause and effect. Reported in a conference abstract, its findings concern a Chinese community-based population without cardiovascular disease, not people with existing cardiovascular disease.
The paper
Peking University First Hospital
ESC Congress 2026 Abstract, Oct 26, 2026
Presented at ESC Congress 2026
