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Association of Arterial Stiffness with Functional Disability and Mobility Limitation: The Rugao Longitudinal Ageing Study

  • Original Research
  • Published:
The journal of nutrition, health & aging

Abstract

Objectives

Arterial stiffness is a common issue that may represent an indicator of vascular ageing. We aimed to investigate the association of arterial stiffness with the risk of functional disability and mobility limitation in older adults.

Design

Prospective cohort study.

Setting and Participants

A total of 1699 older adults from the Rugao Longitudinal Ageing Study were included and analysed.

Measurements

Arterial stiffness was assessed by brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV). Functional disability and mobility limitation were evaluated by the activities of daily living and the Timed Up and Go test, respectively. The associations of baPWV and risk of functional disability and mobility limitation were analysed using logistic regression models. Restricted cubic spline regressions were applied to estimate the possible nonlinear relationships between them.

Results

During the 3.5-year follow-up, 97 (10.00%) and 285 (31.11%) individuals were defined as new-onset functional disability and mobility limitation, respectively. After adjusting for confounding factors, elevated baPWV was significantly associated with a higher risk of incident functional disability (odds ratio [OR] 1.18, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.06–1.31) and mobility limitation (OR 1.08, 95% CI 1.01–1.16). Additionally, consistent results were obtained from the stratified analyses of the different subgroups. Multivariable restricted cubic spline regression analysis further demonstrated that a near-linear association occurred between baPWV and the risk of incident functional disability and mobility limitation (P-overall < 0.01, P-nonlinear > 0.05).

Conclusion

Arterial stiffness, as assessed by baPWV, was associated with the risk of functional disability and mobility limitation in this community-based cohort, and these associations were nearly linear.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge all RLAS participants involved in the present study. We acknowledge the support from the government of Rugao, Public Health Bureau of Jiang’an Township and Rugao city, Bureau of Civil Affairs, Rugao People’s Hospital and Human Phenome Institute of Fudan University, Shanghai, China.

Funding

Funding: This work was supported by grants from the National Key R&D Program of China (2018YFC2000400, 2018YFC2000400-3, 2018YFC2002000) and Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Major Project (2017SHZDZX01).

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Author notes

  1. These two authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Human Phenome Institute, Zhangjiang Fudan International Innovation Centre, Fudan University, Shanghai, China

    H. Zhang, M. Sun, Z. Hu, Y. Cao, M. Hao, Y. Li, L. Jin, X. Sun & X. Wang

  2. National Clinical Research Centre for Ageing and Medicine, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China

    H. Zhang, M. Sun, Y. Cao, X. Sun & X. Wang

  3. Key Laboratory of Arrhythmias, Ministry of Education, Department of Pathology and Pathophysiology, School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai, China

    Xiaoyan Jiang

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  1. H. Zhang
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  9. X. Wang
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Contributions

Author Contributions: Zhang H, Sun M, and Jiang X designed the research; Zhang H, Li Y, Jiang X, Jin L, Sun X and Wang J conducted the research; Zhang H, Li Y and Hao M analysed the data and performed the tactical analyses; Zhang H, Sun M and Wang X wrote the paper; Zhang H and Jiang X had primary responsibility for the final content; and all authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xiaoyan Jiang.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest: The authors declare that they have no relevant financial interests.

Compliance with ethical standards: This study was approved by the Human Ethics Committee of the School of Life Sciences of Fudan University. Informed consent was obtained from each participant.

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Sponsor’s Role: None.

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Zhang, H., Sun, M., Hu, Z. et al. Association of Arterial Stiffness with Functional Disability and Mobility Limitation: The Rugao Longitudinal Ageing Study. J Nutr Health Aging 26, 598–605 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12603-022-1802-z

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