Morphological alternations of intracerebral arterial during middle age: a community cohort study

Background Ample evidence has suggested that vascular modifications are associated with aging. To expand previous understanding of age-related vascular changes, we examined the association between aging and cerebrovascular morphologies. Methods 1176 participants aged 35 to 75 years recruited from Shanghai, China were included in this study. Cerebrovascular morphological features comprising arterial branch density, radius, and tortuosity were quantified using three-dimensional magnetic resonance angiography. Linear regression was used to examine the association between age and vasculature features. Results Age was found to be a significant predictor for cerebrovascular morphological alterations after adjusting for vascular risk factors. However, after dividing subjects into subgroups based on their age, aging was found to be significantly correlated with all three morphometric features only in the 45-54 subgroup after adjusting for the other vascular risk factors. Smoking gives rise to a more rapid age-related changes in vascular morphologies, while alcohol consumption could decelerate those age-related alterations. Conclusions Rapid alternations in all three morphological features assessed have been noticed to be associated with aging in the 45-54 subgroup, suggesting the potential importance of the 5th decade for early preservation method of vascular aging. Funding National Natural Science Foundation of China.