Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2009 Apr;53(4):668-73.
doi: 10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.108.126342. Epub 2009 Feb 23.

Arterial pulse wave velocity and cognition with advancing age

Merrill F Elias  1 , Michael A Robbins, Marc M Budge, Walter P Abhayaratna, Gregory A Dore, Penelope K Elias
Affiliations

Arterial pulse wave velocity and cognition with advancing age

Merrill F Elias et al. Hypertension. 2009 Apr.

Abstract

We hypothesized that carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV), a marker of arterial stiffness, interacts with age such that the magnitude of associations between PWV and cognitive performance are greater with increasing age and that this interaction is observed despite adjustments for demographic variables, mean arterial pressure, and cardiovascular risk factors. PWV was estimated using applanation tonometry in 409 dementia- and stroke-free participants of the Maine-Syracuse Longitudinal Study (24 to 92 years of age; 62.3% women). Using linear regression analyses in a cross-sectional design, associations between PWV and age and the interaction of PWV and age were examined in relation to a global composite score, the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale Similarities test (abstract reasoning), and 4 cognitive domains indexed by multiple cognitive measures. Adjusting for age, gender, education, height, weight, heart rate, mean arterial pressure, and antihypertensive treatment, PWV-by-age interactions were obtained for the global, visual-spatial organization and memory, scanning and tracking, and verbal episodic memory composites, as well as similarities. The combination of higher PWV and age resulted in progressively lower cognitive performance. This finding was the same with an extended model, which also included adjustment for cardiovascular risk factors and other confounds. PWV interacts with age in a multiplicative way to exert a negative influence on cognitive performance level. Early interventions to prevent an increase in arterial stiffness could possibly play an important role in the preservation of cognitive ability.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Three-dimensional plot showing the interaction of PWV and age in relation to the Global Composite cognitive score for the Extended regression model.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Three-dimensional plot showing the interaction of PWV and age in relation to the Scanning and Tracking composite score for the Extended regression model.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Birns J, Kalra L. Cognitive function and hypertension. J Hum Hypertens. 2009;23:86–96. - PubMed
    1. Waldstein SR, Katzel LI. Hypertension and cognitive function. In: Waldstein SR, Elias MF, editors. Neuropsychology of Cardiovascular disease. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates; 2001. pp. 15–36.
    1. Robbins MA, Elias MF, Elias PK, Budge MM The Maine-Syracuse Study. Blood pressure and cognitive function in an African-American and a Caucasian-American sample. Psychosom Med. 2005;67:707–714. - PubMed
    1. Elias MF, Wolf PA, D’Agostino RB, Cobb J, White LR. Untreated blood pressure level is inversely related ro cognitive functioning: The Framingham Study. Am J Epidemiol. 1993;138:353–364. - PubMed
    1. Elias MF, Sullivan LM, Elias PK, D’Agostino RB, Sr, Wolf PA, Seshadri S, Au R, Benjamin EJ, Vasan RS. Left ventricular mass, blood pressure, and lowered cognitive performance in the Framingham offspring. Hypertension. 2007;49:439–445. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms