Vascular Age Concept: Which Approach Is Preferable in Clinical Practice?

Aim: to compare various approaches to estimation of vascular age in patients from sample of citizens of Saint-Petersburg (SPB) with arterial pressure (AP) above 130 / 80 mm Hg without history of cardiovascular events.
Materials and methods. Examination of a population sample of SPB citizens (n=1600) was carried out within framework of the observational epidemiological study ESSE-RF (ЭССЕ-РФ) in 2012–2013. We selected from this sample 477 women and man aged 40–65 years without history of cardiovascular events, diabetes, or chronic kidney disease, and AP >130 / 80 mm Hg. Examination included anthropometry, sampling of fasting blood for measurement of lipids, glucose, creatinine levels, urine sampling for determination of albumin excretion, and AP measurement in ac-cordance with standard methods. The SCORE scale was used of evaluation of 10-year risk of fatal stroke and fatal myocardial infarction. Volume sphygmography (VaSera device) was applied for determination of cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI) with calculation of vascular age, and ankle-brachial index. ASCORE scale was used for determination of сalculated vascular age was determined with help of the ASCORE scale.
Results. Mean age of participants (182 men [38.2 %], 295 women [61.8 %]) was 52.5±6.2 years. Calculated and instrumental methods of determination of vascular age and early vascular aging had low concordance (κ = 0.099). With elevation of cardiovascular risk early vascular aging was more frequently detected by method of its calculation ASCORE than with instrumental method (VaSera). In the absence of achievement of target AP level signs of early vascular aging were significantly more often detected by the method of vascular age calculation than by the instrumental method VaSera.
Conclusion. Application of the concept of vascular age and early vascular aging syndrome might be an effective tool for stratification of cardiovascular risk by a physician and improvement of adherence of a patient. This is especially actual for young patients with burdened heredity. One can assume that estimation of virtual risk factor load on blood vessels by the ASCORE method of calculation is more sensitive to detection of premature vascular aging, while requiring less financial and organizational efforts.

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