Age and gender related patterns in carotid-femoral PWV and carotid and femoral stiffness in a large healthy, middle-aged population

Abstract

The relation with age and gender of local and central stiffness measures is not the same over the age range 35-55 in apparently healthy men and women. Depending on the central stiffness parameter used, age-gender effects evident at the carotid artery are or are not found centrally. Though the relevance of these differences requires further evaluation in a longitudinal study with outcome data, they need to be kept in mind when designing or interpreting results from arterial stiffness evaluation studies.