Artery stiffness-based age linked to cardiovascular events
Early vascular aging based on artery stiffness was linked to a higher cardiovascular event rate than normal vascular aging, with a hazard ratio of 1.44.
Limit: Benefits of using the score to guide patient care were not measured
Edited by Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
In 3,561 adults from a Beijing community, researchers compared four scores estimating vascular age from blood-vessel measurements and conventional cardiovascular risk factors. Participants averaged 58.67 years old, and 65.1% were women. This was a prospective observational cohort study.
Over an average 7.2 years, 294 participants (8.26%) experienced cardiovascular death, nonfatal stroke or nonfatal heart attack. Only the age-adjusted score based on artery stiffness was associated with these events after accounting for age, sex and cardiovascular risk. Each standard-deviation increase—a measure of statistical spread—was linked to a 14% higher relative event rate. Scores based on neck-artery wall thickness, fatty deposits in neck arteries or the ankle-to-arm blood pressure ratio showed no significant associations. The stiffness-based early-aging group had higher risk than the normal-aging group, but unusually low vascular age was not associated with lower risk.
Why it matters
Vascular aging offers a way to assess whether blood-vessel condition adds useful information to calendar age when estimating cardiovascular risk.
Caveats
This observational study could not establish causation or whether using the score improves care. Participants came from one Beijing community, limiting how broadly the results may apply.
- Modeling and theory
- Cardiovascular disease
- Vascular age
- Ankle-brachial index
- baPWV-based early vascular aging
- Humans
The paper
Peking University First Hospital; Peking University
Journal of the American Heart Association, Jul 17, 2026, Open access
