Obesity is associated with increased arterial stiffness from adolescence until old age.

Objective: To our knowledge, only two previous studies have investigated the age dependence of the relationship between the characteristics of large arteries and excessive body weight. We therefore investigated whether the relationship between arterial stiffness and body mass index (BMI) was consistent across an age range from 10 to 86 years.

Methods: Using a cross-sectional population-based design, we randomly recruited 1306 individuals (median age 43.

Autonomic nervous function, arterial stiffness and blood pressure in patients with Type I diabetes mellitus and normal urinary albumin excretion.

Type I diabetic patients (DM-1) with an elevated urinary albumin excretion (UAE>30 mg/24 h) have a high cardiovascular risk. However, DM-1 patients with normal UAE have incipient abnormalities of the cardiovascular and nervous systems, such as elevations of blood pressures, increases in arterial stiffness and deterioration of autonomic nervous function. We studied the interrelationships of these abnormalities in normoalbuminuric DM-1 patients.

Does B-mode common carotid artery intima-media thickness differ from M-model?

An increased intima-media thickness of the common carotid artery is thought to be an early sign of atherosclerosis. Both B- and M-mode ultrasonographic techniques are used to measure the intima-media thickness of the common carotid artery (B-IMT and M-IMT, respectively). The present study compares intima-media thickness of the common carotid artery measured with the two techniques.

Carotid and femoral artery stiffness in relation to three candidate genes in a white population.

Different genetic polymorphisms influence cardiovascular disease. We recently discovered a relationship between the intima-media thickness of the muscular femoral artery, but not the elastic common carotid artery, and the combined ACE (ACE, I/D), alpha-adducin (Gly460Trp),and aldosterone synthase (AS, C-344T) gene polymorphisms. To investigate the relationship between these polymorphisms and functional properties of the carotid artery and femoral artery, a sample of 756 subjects enrolled in a population study were genotyped for the presence of the ACE D, alpha-adducin 460Trp, and aldosterone synthase -344T alleles.

Menopause and the characteristics of the large arteries in a population study.

In previous cross-sectional and longitudinal population studies, we found that the slope of systolic pressure on age was steeper in postmenopausal than in premenopausal women. We hypothesised that this observation could be due to a specific effect of menopause on the elasticity of the large arteries. We investigated 315 randomly selected women, aged 30 to 70 years.