Artery Research (Dec 2009)
P8.10 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AUGMENTATION INDEX AND AGEING: A META-REGRESSION ANALYSIS
Abstract
It has been reported that augmentation index (AIx) increases with age, but that the increase is more prominent in younger subjects [1], and may even decrease with age in individuals over 50yrs [2]. We undertook a meta-analysis of the published literature of 9,551 individuals (5,659 male), aged 4 to 91 years (mean 54.2 years) and undertook meta-regression to further investigate the relationship of AIx with age. AIx increased with age (0.51 (0.41, 0.61) %/yr; coefficient (95% CI); adjusted r2=59.97%; p<0.0001) with little evidence of marked non-linearity over the life course (Figure). Meta-analysis of AIx vs age (solid line) with LOWESS fit shown(dashed line). This meta-analysis suggests that AIx increases relatively uniformly with age, although there may be a small decline in the rate of increase at older ages.