IJCS | Volume 33, Nº4, July and August 2020

355 1. World Health Organization (WHO). Number of people over 60 years set to double by 2015; major societal changes required. Media centre. News Release. Geneva:; 2015. 2. Veerasamy M, Ford GA, Neely D, Bagnall A, MacGowan G, Das R, et al. Association of aging, arterial stiffness, and cardiovascular disease: a review. Cardiol Rev. 2014;22(5):223-32. References Pereira & Costa Arterial stiffness in the older adult Int J Cardiovasc Sci. 2020; 33(4):349-356 Original Article demonstrating an independent association between PWV and kidney function. 25,26 Also, frailty represents a state of greater physiological vulnerability, which further affects the interaction between risk factors, disease progression and the phenotypic expressions of CVD. 15,17 TheHGS test has been acknowledged as one important marker of frailty and degree of sarcopenia in the elderly. 17 In the present study, we found a significant inverse association of PWV with HGS, with participants with abnormal AS showing significantly lower scores in the HGS test, and thus, greater frailty and worse overall health. This association was also documented in a population analysis derived from the FraminghamHeart Study, 15 which corroborates AS as a biomarker that may express the cumulative exposure to risk factors through the lifespan and adaptations of some aspects of biological ageing (abnormal AS) whose course is dissociated from the expected chronological ageing. 27-29 The present study has limitations that should be considered. The use of a single-point method for assessing arterial properties is a limitation that must be acknowledged 30 despite its previous validation. 7-12 The size of the cohort is limited, even though the post-hoc statistical power analysis provided evidence in favor of its adequacy for the analytical procedures used. The results refer to one single measurement per participant, therefore considerations about age-dependent trends must be taken with caution. As a future challenge, we seek to explore tailored interventions to improve functionality and overall quality of life, evaluating whether personalized interventions, such as exercise programs, nutritional counselling and drug adherence programs are effective for preventing and/or treatingAS and restoring vascular health in the elderly. Highlights ● Abnormal arterial stiffness is a common finding in older adults and is strongly associated with isolated systolic hypertension. ● Abnormal arterial stiffness is a form of accelerated vascular ageing that is associated with a worse overall cardiovascular risk profile. ● Frailty and impaired kidney function are strongly associated with arterial stiffness. ● The identification of the main determinants of arterial stiffness in the elder may be instrumental for the design of tailored and effective intervention programs. Author contributions Conception and design of the research: Pereira T. Acquisition of data: Pereira T, Costa T. Analysis and interpretation of the data: Pereira T, Costa T. Statistical analysis: Pereira T, Costa T. Obtaining financing: Pereira T. Writing of the manuscript: Pereira T, Costa T. Critical revision of themanuscript for intellectual content: Pereira T, Costa T. Potential Conflict of Interest No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported. Sources of Funding This work is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), through the partnership agreement Portugal2020 - Regional Operation Program CENTRO2020, under the project CENTRO-01-0145- FEDER-023369 AGA@4life: AGA - Comprehensive Geriatric approach to promote an active andhealthy aging - implementation of an integrated and multidisciplinary intervention program of interest. Study Association This study is not associated with any thesis or dissertation work. Ethics approval and consent to participate This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Polytechnic Intitute Of Coimba under the protocol number 8/2018. All the procedures in this study were in accordance with the 1975 Helsinki Declaration, updated in 2013. Informed consent was obtained from all participants included in the study.