Aortic Compliance in Normals Correlates with Age and BMI

Yi Wang^1,2, Edwin Estrada¹, Simcha Pollack¹, Visali Kodali¹, Nathaniel Reichek^1,2

Aortic compliance (AC) can be evaluated noninvasively and its reduction with age in normals has been demonstrated with MRI. Decreased aortic compliance (AC) is associated with aging, systolic hypertension and left ventricular diastolic dysfunction. Aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV) often serves as a surrogate to AC, and it can be evaluated using a single breath-hold phase contrast imaging technique. Its age correlation has been demonstrated by both MR and echo studies in normal volunteers. We evaluated the aortic compliance and their relationship to age, as well as the other biomedical parameters in 189 normal volunteers.