Arterial properties along the upper arm in humans: age-related effects and the consequence of anatomical location

Abstract

The normal aging process of the brachial artery (BA) wall is of specific interest since it is often selected as a model artery in studies of vascular function. With echo-tracking ultrasound, diameter, absolute diameter change, and intima-media thickness (IMT) were registered in 60 healthy subjects, 21–86 yr (30 men), at a proximal, upper third, and distal arterial site along the upper arm. Blood pressure was recorded noninvasively, and the distensibility coefficient (DC) was calculated. The diameter at the proximal site increased with age from 5.5 ± 0.2 mm in the young subjects to 6.9 ± 0.3 mm ( P < 0.01) in the elderly subjects, concomitantly as IMT increased from 0.40 ± 0.01 to 0.65 ± 0.03 mm ( P < 0.001). The diameter at the other sites was similar in the young and elderly subjects, whereas IMT increased slightly with age. At the proximal site, DC decreased dramatically from 40.7 ± 2.2 to 10.1 ± 0.8 10−3/kPa ( P < 0.001) with age, whereas hardly no change was seen in the distal upper arm. The principal transit zone between elastic to predominantly muscular artery behavior seems to be located within the proximal part of the brachial artery, emphasizing the importance of carefully defining the arterial examination site.