Age and Gender Affect Ventricular-Vascular Coupling During Aerobic Exercise

The goal of this study was to examine the age-associated differences in ventricular-vascular coupling, defined by the ratio of arterial elastance (EaI) to left ventricular systolic elastance (ELVI), and its components, at rest and during exercise. Ejection fraction (EF) increases during exercise, bu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the American College of Cardiology 2004-08, Vol.44 (3), p.611-617
Main Authors: Najjar, Samer S., Schulman, Steven P., Gerstenblith, Gary, Fleg, Jerome L., Kass, David A., O’Connor, Frances, Becker, Lewis C., Lakatta, Edward G.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Aging
Aging - physiology
Arteries - physiology
Biological and medical sciences
Blood Pressure
Cardiology
Cardiology. Vascular system
Elasticity
Exercise - physiology
Female
Gated Blood-Pool Imaging
Gender differences
Humans
Male
Medical sciences
Men
Middle Aged
Reference Values
Research Design
Rest - physiology
Sex Characteristics
Sphygmomanometers
Stroke Volume
Vascular Resistance
Ventricular Function
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Summary:The goal of this study was to examine the age-associated differences in ventricular-vascular coupling, defined by the ratio of arterial elastance (EaI) to left ventricular systolic elastance (ELVI), and its components, at rest and during exercise. Ejection fraction (EF) increases during exercise, but the EF reserve decreases with aging. Ejection fraction is inversely related to EaI/ELVI, an index of the interaction between arterial and ventricular properties, which is an important determinant of cardiac performance. Thus, age differences in EaI/ELVI during exercise, due to age differences in EaI, ELVI, or both, may help to explain the age deficit in EF reserve. We noninvasively characterized EaI/ELVI = end-systolic volume index (ESVI)/stroke volume index (SVI) and its two determinants EaI = end-systolic pressure/SVI, and ELVI = end-systolic pressure/ESVI, at rest and during exercise in 239 healthy men and women (age range, 21 to 87 years). Blood pressures were assessed with cuff sphygomanometry, and cardiac volumes with gated blood pool scintingraphy. Resting EaI/ELVI was not age related in men or women. In both sexes, EaI/ELVI decreased during exercise and declined to a lesser extent in older subjects. There were gender differences in the components of EaI/ELVI during exercise: EaI was greater in older versus young women (p = 0.01) but was unaffected by age in men. Left ventricular systolic elastance increased to a greater extent in young versus older subjects (p = 0.0001 for men, p = 0.07 for women). Age-associated differences in EaI/ELVI occur in both genders during exercise. Sub-optimal ventricular-vascular coupling helps to explain the age-associated blunting of maximal exercise EF, and its underlying mechanisms appear to differ between men and women.
ISSN:0735-1097
1558-3597
DOI:10.1016/j.jacc.2004.04.041