A cross-sectional study of non-invasive markers of vascular health in children and adolescents

Understanding age-related changes in arterial vasculature via non-invasive measures is poorly described in childhood and adolescence. This study finds that the timing and magnitude of age-related changes vary across arterial beds and between non-invasive measures in the first two decades of life. Aortic intima-media thickness is a more age-appropriate measure of early structural changes in the young than the more widely used carotid intima-media thickness. Furthermore, carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity, a measure of aortic stiffness, is best evaluated in late childhood and adolescence and likely has little relevance in early childhood.