Vascular age

Vascular age compares the health of your blood vessels to your biological age, which can help to evaluate someone’s cardiovascular condition over time. It considers the age of your arteries both big and small. Diagnosing vascular age involves assessing artery stiffness.

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If vascular age is higher than someone’s chronological age, it can indicate a greater risk of vascular disease. Vascular aging is largely caused by modifiable factors like poor diet, sedentary lifestyle, obesity, hypertension, diabetes, high and low cholesterol levels, smoking. Vascular aging risk is also increased with family history of cardiovascular disease.

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High vascular age can cause vascular disease, which includes vein disorders in the legs as well as abnormal circulation and renal or carotid issues. The most prevalent problems include arteriosclerosis, which is the thickening or hardening of arteries, which can lead to heart attack, stroke, or peripheral arterial disease.

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Thankfully, vascular health can be greatly improved by incorporating physical activity, such as 150 minutes of aerobic activity weekly. It can also be mitigated through other lifestyle interventions, such as a healthy diet, weight loss, and more. Because vascular age is an indicator of vascular health, it is important to routinely track vascular age so that individuals can incorporate proper lifestyle interventions to prevent later disease.