Muntinga J H, Schut J K, Visser K R, Zijlstra W G
Department of Medical Physiology, University of Groningen, The Netherlands.
J Vasc Res. 1997 Mar-Apr;34(2):137-47. doi: 10.1159/000159216.
The significance of age-related changes in arterial stiffness has remained largely uncertain in healthy subjects. This appears to be partly due to difficulties in the interpretation of methods for measuring arterial stiffness in vivo. Therefore, a recently developed electrical bioimpedance method was used for studying elastic properties of a vascular bed as a function of age. In 66 healthy subjects, aged 22-82 years, we investigated the vascular bed of an upper arm segment. This vascular bed showed an age-related decrease in the venous blood volume (r = -0.31, p < 0.01) and in the distensibility, the inverse of stiffness, of the larger arteries (r = -0.38, p < 0.001). The distensibility of the arterial bed as a whole at normotensive blood pressure, however, appeared to increase with age (r = 0.32, p < 0.005). The arterial and venous blood volumes, arterial compliance and extravascular fluid volume were significantly higher in the males than in the females. Practically all investigated vascular properties appeared to be related with height, body mass or body mass index. We concluded that comparative studies concerning vascular properties should preferably be performed in subjects matched as to age, gender, height and body mass. In healthy subjects the smaller arteries adjust to the age-related decrease in large artery distensibility by means of an age-related increase in distensibility. These age-related changes in arterial distensibility are caused by changes in the females, and seem to be associated with age-related changes in body mass index rather than with aging per se.
在健康受试者中，与年龄相关的动脉僵硬度变化的意义在很大程度上仍不明确。这似乎部分是由于体内测量动脉僵硬度方法的解释存在困难。因此，一种最近开发的电阻抗生物电方法被用于研究血管床的弹性特性随年龄的变化。在66名年龄在22至82岁的健康受试者中，我们研究了上臂段的血管床。该血管床显示静脉血容量随年龄下降（r = -0.31，p < 0.01），较大动脉的扩张性（僵硬度的倒数）也随年龄下降（r = -0.38，p < 0.001）。然而，在正常血压下，整个动脉床的扩张性似乎随年龄增加（r = 0.32，p < 0.005）。男性的动脉和静脉血容量、动脉顺应性和血管外液体积显著高于女性。几乎所有研究的血管特性似乎都与身高、体重或体重指数有关。我们得出结论，关于血管特性的比较研究最好在年龄、性别、身高和体重匹配的受试者中进行。在健康受试者中，较小的动脉通过与年龄相关的扩张性增加来适应大动脉扩张性与年龄相关的下降。这些与年龄相关的动脉扩张性变化是由女性的变化引起的，似乎与体重指数的年龄相关变化有关，而不是与衰老本身有关。
