Arterial stiffness is associated with age-related differences in cerebrovascular conductance

• Arterial stiffness is elevated in healthy sedentary elderly compared with young adults.
• Cerebral blood flow velocity and conductance are reduced in healthy older adults compared with young adults.
• Arterial stiffness was inversely associated with cerebral blood flow velocity and cerebrovascular conductance.
• There are no apparent age-associated differences in cerebrovascular reactivity in apparently healthy older adults.

To determine if arterial stiffness is associated with age-related differences in cerebrovascular conductance and reactivity, twenty-eight apparently healthy sedentary young (25 ± 1 years; n = 15) and older (67 ± 1 years; n = 13) adults were studied. Brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) was measured as an index of arterial stiffness. Cerebrovascular reactivity was determined by measuring changes in mean blood velocity in the middle cerebral artery under normocapnic, hypocapnic and hypercapnic conditions. Mean baPWV was greater (p < 0.05) in older compared with young adults. At baseline, mean cerebral blood flow velocity and cerebrovascular conductance index were lower (p < 0.05) in older compared with young adults under normocapnic, hypocapnic and hypercapnic conditions. There were no significant group differences in cerebrovascular reactivity when they were adjusted for stimuli (i.e., end-tidal CO2 concentrations) in most perturbation conditions except for the normocapnia to hypercapnia condition. baPWV was negatively associated with cerebrovascular conductance index at all conditions (all p < 0.05). We concluded that arterial stiffness was associated with age-related differences in cerebrovascular conductance and that there were no apparent age-associated differences in cerebrovascular reactivity.