Department of Vascular Disease, University of Ljubljana Medical Centre, Zaloška 7, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Eur J Intern Med. 2012 Apr;23(3):261-6. doi: 10.1016/j.ejim.2011.11.011. Epub 2011 Dec 12.
Ageing progressively diminishes arterial functions, even in the absence of traditional risk factors. Our aim was to explore whether age-related arterial changes in middle-aged males could be reversed using short-term, low-dose fluvastatin/valsartan combination intervention.
Forty apparently healthy, middle-aged males (43.3 ± 5.8 years) were recruited in a double-blind, randomised intervention. Individuals received either 10mg fluvastatin/20mg valsartan daily or placebo over 30 days. The brachial artery flow mediated dilation (FMD), pulse wave velocity (PWV) and common carotid artery β-stiffness were assessed at baseline and after 30 days, and again 5-10 months after therapy discontinuation.
Arterial function variables significantly improved after 30 days of intervention; FMD improved by 167.7% (P<0.001), PWV by 10.9% (P<0.05) and β-stiffness by 18.8% (P<0.01), whereas no changes were obtained in the placebo group. The favourable outcomes in the intervention group were accompanied by a significant decrease of high sensitivity-C reactive protein levels (1.8-fold; P<0.05). In contrast, lipids and blood pressure remained unchanged. Surprisingly, the beneficial arterial effects were still present to a substantial degree 7 months after completing intervention (remaining % of initial improvement: FMD 82.1%, PWV 69.5% and β-stiffness 68.5%), but declined substantially after 10 months.
Our results indicate that age-related arterial changes, at least in middle-aged males, can be reversed. Short-term treatment with a low-dose fluvastatin/valsartan combination resulted in a large and long lasting improvement of arterial function.
即使没有传统的风险因素，衰老也会逐渐损害动脉功能。我们的目的是探索短期、低剂量氟伐他汀/缬沙坦联合干预是否可以逆转中年男性与年龄相关的动脉变化。
40 名健康的中年男性（43.3±5.8 岁）参与了这项双盲、随机干预研究。这些个体在 30 天内每天接受 10mg 氟伐他汀/20mg 缬沙坦或安慰剂治疗。在基线和治疗结束后 30 天以及治疗结束后 5-10 个月时，评估肱动脉血流介导的扩张（FMD）、脉搏波速度（PWV）和颈总动脉β-僵硬度。
干预 30 天后，动脉功能变量显著改善；FMD 增加了 167.7%（P<0.001），PWV 增加了 10.9%（P<0.05），β-僵硬度增加了 18.8%（P<0.01），而安慰剂组没有变化。干预组的有利结果伴随着高敏 C 反应蛋白水平的显著降低（1.8 倍；P<0.05）。相比之下，血脂和血压没有变化。令人惊讶的是，在完成干预后 7 个月，动脉的有益作用仍然存在，而且程度很大（初始改善的剩余百分比：FMD 82.1%，PWV 69.5%和β-僵硬度 68.5%），但在 10 个月后大幅下降。
我们的结果表明，与年龄相关的动脉变化，至少在中年男性中，是可以逆转的。短期低剂量氟伐他汀/缬沙坦联合治疗可显著改善动脉功能，并持续较长时间。
