Vascular and muscle deterioration in older outpatients

Background: Vascular and muscle deterioration are age-related processes, which both have a major impact on health and might share common predisposing factors and mechanisms. We investigated the possible association between aortic stiffness and physical performance in older outpatients. Methods: Aortic stiffness was non-invasively measured as aortic pulse wave velocity (aPWV) by the Mobil-o-Graph. Physical performance was assessed by the (a) hand grip strength and (b) usual gait speed on 5-meter course. Low grip strength was <20 kg for women and <30 kg for men. Slow gait speed was defined as ≤0.8 m/s. Mean values of aPWV were investigated in patients according to their physical performance. Results: We included 240 consecutive outpatients. Mean age was 77.6 (±7.1) years, mean aPWV was 12.0 (±1.7)m/s. Low hand grip strength was found in 43.3%, slow gait speed in 37.1%. Compared to the normal physical performance group, patients with low grip strength were 5.3 years older (p < 0.001) and patients with slow gait speed were 2.9 years older (p = 0.002). Patients with normal grip strength had lower aPWV than patients with low grip strength (11.58 vs 12.6, p < 0.001). Patients with normal gait speed had lower aPWV than patients with slow gait speed (11.81 vs 12.3, p = 0.042). After adjustments for age, sex and mean arterial pressure, no differences were found in aPWV between patients with a normal and low physical performance. Conclusion: Higher aortic stiffness is associated with lower physical performance in older outpatients. However, age plays a crucial role in this relationship.