Large Artery Stiffness, Microvascular Function, and Cardiovascular Risk.

Large artery stiffness is an important mediator of cardiovascular disease. Aortic stiffening causally contributes to isolated systolic hypertension and increases left ventricular pulsatile hydraulic load, which is important in conditions such as heart failure, hypertensive heart disease, and valvular heart disease (particularly aortic stenosis). In addition, there is increasing recognition of the role of arterial stiffness on microvascular disease, which is relevant for the damage of target organs such as the brain and the kidney.