Carotid artery wall hypertrophy with age is related to local systolic blood pressure in healthy men

Carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT) increases with advancing age in humans. The underlying mechanism of this increase is unknown, but data fro m animal studies suggest that a chronic increase in local distending pressu re can act as a stimulus. To test this hypothesis, we studied a total of 12 9 healthy normotensive, nonobese, nonsmoking men aged 18 to 77 years. Brach ial systolic blood pressure (SBP) was unchanged, but carotid SEP increased progressively with age (P<0.05). Carotid IMT and the ratio of carotid IMT t o lumen (ultrasonography) increased progressively with age (P<0.05). Caroti d IMT was:approximate to 50% greater in the older compared with the young m en. Carotid SEP was positively related to carotid IMT (r=0.55, P<0.001). Af ter carotid SEP was taken into account (ANCOVA), the age-related difference in carotid IMT was no longer statistically significant (P = 0.22). We conc lude that carotid IMT increases with age in healthy men in the absence of e levations in peripheral SEP. Carotid SEP increases progressively with advan cing age in this population and is significantly related to the correspondi ng carotid wall hypertrophy. These results support the hypothesis that chro nic increases in local distending pressure may be an important mechanism in the wall thickening that occurs with human aging in central elastic arteri es.