PULSE WAVE VELOCITY IS SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCED IN MASTER ATHLETES COMPARED TO SEDENTARY OLDER PERSONS

Objective: Pulse wave velocity (PWV), which independently predicts cardiovascular risk, increases with advancing age. Lifelong physical activity may attenuate vascular aging and associated cardiovascular risks. Therefore, we tested the hypothesis that older, highly trained athletes are protected from vascular stiffening compared to age-matched control persons. Design and method: We recruited 30 master athletes (73.9 ± 6.5 years, 23.8 ± 2.8 kg/m2, 8 women) during the 25th World Master Athletics Championships in 2024 (Gothenburg, Sweden). We excluded athletes with significant cardiovascular disease. The sedentary control group comprised 49 participants (age 73.8 ± 6.5 years, BMI 26.3 ± 3.6 kg/m2, 22 women) of the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Frailty Interventional Trial (MV-Fit). We measured supine heart rate and upper arm oscillometric mean, systolic, and diastolic blood pressure and carotid femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV) using an oscillometric approach (Vicorder) according to current guidelines. Results: Both groups were well matched for age (p = 0.9459). BMI was significantly lower in master athletes (p = 0.0010). Heart rate tended to be lower in athletes (p = 0.0573) but mean arterial pressure did not differ between groups (MV-Fit: 95.8 ± 11.5; athletes: 94.34 ± 10.2; p=0.9003). cfPWV was higher in the sedentary control group compared to master athletes (control: 11.1 ± 1.95 m/s, master athletes: 9.2 ± 1.7 m/s; p < 0.0001). Conclusions: The important finding of our study is that age-related vascular stiffening is substantially attenuated in highly trained older athletes. The finding further supports the idea that life-long vigorous physical exercise could promote cardiovascular health.