IJCS | Volume 33, Nº4, July and August 2020

352 Table 2 - Comparative profiles of the participants as a function of the presence of abnormal arterial stiffness (aortic pulse wave velocity) Normal PWV (n = 39) Abnormal PWV (n = 15) p-value Age, years 78.8 ± 8.2 88.7 ± 1.3 < 0.001 Females, % 66.0 80.0 0.693 BMI, Kg/m 2 27.0 ± 4.3 26.4 ± 4.5 0.705 Brachial SBP, mmHg 137.0 ± 35.0 175.3 ± 31.6 0.004 Brachial DBP, mmHg 79.4 ± 17.8 83.7 ± 1.2 0.368 Brachial PP, mmHg 63.4 ± 18.8 91.6 ± 29.4 0.001 Heart rate, bpm 69.7 ± 11.7 64.0 ± 7.2 0.162 Total cholesterol, mg/dL 180.5 ± 40.8 185.9 ± 34.6 0.741 HDL cholesterol, mg/dL 43.0 ± 8.6 42.0 ± 9.2 0.762 Creatinine, mg/dL 0.8 ± 0.2 0.9 ± 0.3 0.070 Hypertension, % 70.0 100.0 0.050 Aortic SBP, mmHg 127.0 ± 21.7 150.9 ± 20.8 0.004 Aortic PP, mmHg 46.8 ± 12.8 65.3 ± 15.9 0.001 AIx@75, % 28.0 ± 13.8 36.5 ± 7.4 0.020 Vascular resistance 1.3 ± 0.2 1.7 ± 0.4 0.006 Handgrip strength, Kg/f 17.5 ± 8.1 12.1 ± 4.8 0.020 Mini nutritional assessment, score 23.5 ± 7.1 19.7 ± 4.1 0.040 PWV, m/s 12.1 ± 1.7 15.6 ± 0.9 < 0.001 BMI: body mass index; SBP: systolic blood pressure; DBP: diastolic blood pressure; PP: pulse pressure; HDL: high-density lipoprotein; AIx@75: augmentation index corrected to heart rate; PWV: pulse wave velocity. Pereira & Costa Arterial stiffness in the older adult Int J Cardiovasc Sci. 2020; 33(4):349-356 Original Article with abnormal PWV, according to the reference values adjusted for age, 5 was 27.8% (n = 15). Participants with abnormal PWVwere significantly older, had significantly higher brachial and central BPs, higher Aix@75 and higher vascular resistance, lower HGS and worse nutritional status (Table 2). Univariable linear regression with PWV as dependent variable detected a significant association with age, gender, BP, vascular resistance, creatinine and HGS (Table 3). In multivariable analysis (adjusted for age and gender), BP (particularly the PP component), vascular resistance and handgrip maintained a significant association with PWV. Also, the presence of hypertension was significantly associatedwith PWV. PWV increased exponentially with age, as depicted in Figure 1, which occurred in a similar manner in men and women; however, a steeper increase was observed in hypertensive participants, indicating a shift in the expected trend of arterial ageing, where hypertension accelerates the rate of AS with age. Pulse wave velocity was also significantly and inversely correlated with HGS (Figure 2; Pearson r = -0.512; p = 0.001). Discussion Considering the current evidence recognising AS, and particularly PWV, as a strong and independent determinant of cardiovascular risk, 6 we performed a study aimed at identifying the main determinants of AS in the very old, identifying the factors that may accelerate arterial ageing and, thereby potential routes for preventive actions targeting the maintenance of vascular health. The study enrolled 54 participants withmean age