Effect of ageing on left ventricular compliance and distensibility in healthy sedentary humans.
Level 4 - case-series / case-control
Cross-sectional physiological study
PubMed 22331419 · doi:10.1113/jphysiol.2011.218271
What was done
Seventy healthy, sedentary adults (39 female; aged 21–77 years) were recruited from the Dallas Heart Study and a hospital employee cohort, screened for comorbidities, and stratified into four age groups: 21–34, 35–49, 50–64, and ≥65 years. All subjects underwent invasive right heart catheterization to measure pulmonary capillary wedge pressure simultaneously with echocardiographic measurements of left ventricular (LV) end-diastolic volumes across preload modifications (baseline, −15 and −30 mmHg lower-body negative pressure, and 15 and 30 ml/kg saline infusion) to generate LV diastolic pressure–volume curves.
What was found
The abstract reports directional physiological findings without providing raw numerical values: - Baseline heart rate and blood pressures did not differ among the four age groups. - Baseline LV end-diastolic volume index was smaller in the ≥65 age group than in the younger groups. - LV compliance was substantially greater in the 21–34 group compared with the 50–64 and ≥65 groups, leading to larger volume shifts during preload manipulation. - Chamber compliance curves appeared identical between the 50–64 and ≥65 groups, but pressure–volume curves shifted leftward (decreased distensibility) with increasing age.
Why it matters
This study outlines the time course of cardiac stiffening in sedentary individuals, suggesting that left ventricular stiffening begins between youth and middle age, manifests between ages 50 and 64, and progresses to volume contraction and remodeling after age 65.
Limits
The study is cross-sectional rather than longitudinal, inferring aging trajectories across different individuals. The total sample size is modest (n = 70 across four subgroups, ~17–18 subjects per group). The abstract does not report exact hemodynamic numerical data or confidence intervals, and the strictly sedentary, highly screened cohort may not represent active individuals or those with common age-related comorbidities.
Cited by
- supports The human heart begins to get stiffer around early middle age (ages 35 to 50), which impairs cardiac compliance and contributes to hypertension.
- supports In late middle age (ages 50 to 65), the heart atrophies and shrinks in size in addition to becoming stiffer.