Obesity has reached epidemic levels and carries a risk for cardiovascular disease. Obesity's effects on the vascular systems of young adults and African Americans have not been well characterized. The aim of this study was to assess the association between measures of obesity and aortic stiffness in 186 young adults (20 to 40 years, 50% African American) and 177 older adults (41 to 70 years, 33...

We hypothesized that age-linked changes in the composition and elastic properties of the arterial wall occur earlier in hypertensive than in normotensive rats. We evaluated the consequences of hypertension and aging on aortic mechanics, geometry, and composition in 3-, 9-, and 15-month-old awake Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY) (normotensive) and spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) (hypertensive). The...

Higher measures of arterial stiffness are associated with increased risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and mortality. However, the contribution of higher arterial stiffness toward risk of heart failure (HF) and its subtypes, HF with preserved ejection fraction and HF with reduced ejection fraction, independent of other established risk factors, is not well studied. In this study, we...

Higher measures of arterial stiffness are associated with increased risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and mortality. However, the contribution of higher arterial stiffness toward risk of heart failure (HF) and its subtypes, HF with preserved ejection fraction and HF with reduced ejection fraction, independent of other established risk factors, is not well studied. In this study, we...

Habitual moderate-to-vigorous–intensity physical activity attenuates arterial stiffening. However, it is unclear whether light physical activity also attenuates arterial stiffening. It is also unclear whether light physical activity has the same effects in fit and unfit individuals. This cross-sectional study was performed to determine the relationships between amount of light physical activity...

Circulating C-reactive protein (CRP) level is associated with cardiovascular disease. Whether this relationship is causal has been subject of debate, especially as a potential therapeutic target. Previous studies have demonstrated an association between circulating CRP levels and arterial pulse wave velocity, an accepted measure of arterial stiffness. We investigated the association between cir...

Higher measures of arterial stiffness are associated with increased risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and mortality. However, the contribution of higher arterial stiffness toward risk of heart failure (HF) and its subtypes, HF with preserved ejection fraction and HF with reduced ejection fraction, independent of other established risk factors, is not well studied. In this study, we...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Increased aortic stiffness (measured by carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity) and central augmentation index have been shown to independently predict cardiovascular events, including stroke. We studied whether pulse wave velocity and central augmentation index predict functional outcome after ischemic stroke. METHODS In a prospective study, we enrolled 99 patients with a...

Higher measures of arterial stiffness are associated with increased risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and mortality. However, the contribution of higher arterial stiffness toward risk of heart failure (HF) and its subtypes, HF with preserved ejection fraction and HF with reduced ejection fraction, independent of other established risk factors, is not well studied. In this study, we...