Cardiovascular Disease and Ageing Flashcards
Where is most of the stroke volume stored and why?
Venous reservoir
Veins more compliant than arteries
How does CV disease incidence change with age?
Exponentially increases
What are the 2 types of age-related exposures?
Unavoidable - passage of time (ageing)
Avoidable - risk factors that accumulate over time
What do age-related exposures interact with and how do they determine outcomes?
Interact with genetic predisposition
Both contribute to reparative and deteriorative processes
Balance between reparative and deteriorative processes determines outcomes
What is the main evidence against the idea that coronary heart disease (CHD) is caused by avoidable exposures accumulating over time and not ageing itself?
Decreased CHD incidence since 1970s
At same time proportion of old people in population increased
What can most of the decrease in CHD incidence in Australia be explained by and what does this suggest?
Decreased lifestyle risk factor exposure - decreased smoking, controlled blood pressure, decreased cholesterol
Suggests due to lifestyle changes and improved treatments
How is the incidence of heart failure changing, why is this notable, and what does it suggest?
Increasing
Exception to overall decreasing CVD rates
Could be disease of ageing
Name the 3 factors that cause effects often attributed to ageing
Smoking
Diet salt intake effect on blood pressure
Dietary effect of cholesterol
How does the incidence of lung cancer change with age?
Increases
How does the number of lung cancer deaths attributable to smoking change with age?
Increases
How does blood pressure change with age in a western (high dietary salt) population?
Increasing systolic BP from 20-80yrs old
Increasing diastolic BP before 50 - then decline
Increasing pulse pressure after 50
How does blood pressure change with age in a Tsimane tribe (low dietary salt) population?
Minimal BP changes
Slight systolic BP increase
What do the differences in BP changes over the life-course between high and low salt communities suggest?
Western BP changes with age could be due to abnormally high dietary salt intake
How does blood cholesterol change with age in a Minnesota population?
Increasing levels until 70yrs old - then decline
How does blood cholesterol change with age in a Kyushu population?
Slight increase with age
At all ages lower than in Minnesota population