Uruguay eHealth initiative: preliminary studies regarding an integrated approach to evaluate vascular age and preclinical atherosclerosis (CUiiDARTE project)

Annu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2011:2011:842-5. doi: 10.1109/IEMBS.2011.6090192.

Abstract

In this work we present an initiative to develop a national (Uruguayan) program to evaluate vascular age and to detect pre-clinical atherosclerosis using: gold-standard technologies; complimentary and integrative approaches to asses arterial functional and structural indexes; data bases systems to process, analyze and determine normal and reference values and to identify the most sensitive markers of vascular changes for different ages. We evaluated, in a Uruguayan population complementary structural and functional vascular parameters that associate aging-related changes and are considered markers of sub-clinical atherosclerosis. Traditional CV risk factors were assessed. The subjects (n=281) were submitted to non-invasive vascular studies to evaluate: 1) Common carotid artery (CCA) intima-media thickness and diameter waveforms, 2) CCA stiffness, 3) aortic stiffness (pulse wave velocity) and 4) peripheral and central pressure pulse wave derived parameters. Age groups: 21-30, 31-40, 41-50, 51-60, and 61-70 years-old. Age-related profiles were obtained for the different vascular parameters, and their utility to assess vascular changes in young, middle-aged and old subjects was evaluated. The work has the strength of being the first that uses, in Latin-America an integrative approach to characterize vascular aging-related changes.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Atherosclerosis / diagnosis*
  • Atherosclerosis / epidemiology*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Pilot Projects
  • Prevalence
  • Proportional Hazards Models*
  • Risk Assessment
  • Risk Factors
  • Uruguay / epidemiology