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Age and regional specificity of peak limb vascular conductance in women

¹Noll Laboratory, ²Department of Kinesiology, and ³Intercollege Graduate Degree Program in Physiology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania

Submitted 12 July 2005 ; accepted in final form 15 August 2005

The influence of age on limb vasodilator capacity in women is unclear. The objectives of this study were to characterize and compare age-associated changes in forearm and calf peak vascular conductance (VC_peak; a functional index of arterial structure) in women and to identify physiological characteristics predictive of variation in limb-specific VC_peak. Peak conductance (plethysmographic flow/mean arterial pressure), VC_peak of the forearm (forearm VC_peak), and calf (calf VC_peak) after 10 min of arterial occlusion were measured in 58 healthy, normally active women aged 21–79 yr. Aerobic capacity (cycle peak oxygen uptake), arterial health (pulse-wave velocity, ankle-brachial index), total cholesterol, limb-specific tissue composition (dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry), and isometric strength (handgrip, plantar flexion) were also assessed. The relative decline in calf VC_peak with age (–6.8% per decade, P < 0.001) was greater than the forearm (–4.4% per decade, P = 0.004), in contrast to results previously reported for men (forearm decline > calf decline). Limb VC_peak per kilogram muscle declined with age in the calf (–6.0% per decade; P = 0.002), but not the forearm (P = 0.12). Age, cholesterol, and regional tissue composition were significant predictors of peak conductance in both limbs; however, age was a stronger predictor of peak conductance in the calf. These results suggest that healthy aging is associated with a linear decline in limb vasodilator capacity in women, but the magnitude of this effect is region specific. Further research will be required to determine whether the decline in lower extremity vasodilator capacity with age explains diminished exercising leg vasodilation in older women.

aging; gender; muscle blood flow; vasodilation; reactive hyperemia; venous occlusion plethysmography

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