The modifying effect of chronological age on the predictive value of vascular aging indicators for the long-term cardiovascular events risk

Abstract Whether chronological age affects the ability of vascular aging indicators to predict cardiovascular events risk remains unknown. This study sought to examine whether the predictability of vascular aging indicators is better in middle-aged participants than older participants. This prospective cohort study included 8163 participants from a community-based atherosclerosis cohort in Beijing, China. Vascular age (VA) was defined as the predicted age in a multivariable regression model including cardiovascular risk factors and pulse wave velocity. Residuals by regressing VA on chronological age were defined as ∆-age, reflecting vascular aging. We used Cox proportional hazard regression model to examine the association between ∆-age and the risk of cardiovascular events in different chronological age groups. Of all participants, 5691 (69.7%) were between 40 and 60 years old, and 2472 (30.3%) were over 60 years old. During a median 9.9-year follow-up period, 818 (10%) endpoints were observed. After adjusting for confounders, ∆-age was positively associated with the risk of cardiovascular events in middle-aged participants (HR: 1.13, 95% CI: 1.07–1.21; p < 0.001), whereas no significant association was observed in older participants (HR: 1.03, 95% CI: 0.99–1.06; p = 0.148). Interaction analysis in total participants showed that chronological age significantly modified the relationship between ∆-age and the risk of cardiovascular events (p = 0.017). Our findings indicate that the predictive ability of residuals between VA and chronological age for the risk of cardiovascular events is better in middle-aged people than that in older people. The VA assessment may be more valuable to the middle-aged population.