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Abstract
Aging is associated with an increase in arterial stiffness. Two different methods were used to evaluate arterial stiffness, pulse wave velocity and vasoactive range, in a young group and in an older group of males. The hypothesis was that a stiffer artery as measured by pulse wave velocity would have a narrower vasoactive range. Pulse wave velocity was measured over two segments. Vasoactive range was measured in the posterior tibial artery. The older group displayed significantly faster pulse wave velocities along all segments compared to the younger group. There was a non-significant trend for the older group to have a narrowed vasoactive range compared to the younger group, p = 0.096. There was no correlation between leg pulse wave velocity and posterior tibial vasoactive range suggesting range is not a measure of arterial stiffness. It can be concluded that age has a significant affect on arterial stiffness.