Higher cardiorespiratory fitness is associated with lower structural, but not load-dependent, aortic stiffness in older adults, suggesting the vascular benefits of CRF may reflect long-term attenuation of arterial wall remodeling rather than blood pressure-driven mechanisms.
Greater cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) was associated with lower total carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV) in older adults.
Greater CRF was associated with lower structural cfPWV.
CRF was not associated with load-dependent cfPWV.
The association between CRF and aortic stiffness was strongest in males and in participants aged ≥70 years.
Separating structural from load-dependent stiffness allows a more precise understanding of how CRF relates to vascular aging than total cfPWV alone.
The authors conclude that maintaining CRF, particularly into later life, may be an effective way to slow vascular aging.
This study looked at nearly 800 older adults (average age 72) to see how their fitness levels related to the stiffness of their aorta, the body's main artery. Artery stiffness tends to rise with age and is a marker of heart and vascular risk. Stiffness can come from two sources: changes in the artery wall itself (structural) or higher blood pressure putting more strain on the artery (load-dependent). Fitness was estimated from a 400-m walking test, and stiffness was measured with pulse wave velocity, a measure of how fast the pressure wave travels along the arteries. People with higher fitness had less stiff aortas. When the researchers separated the two sources of stiffness, the link to fitness was with the structural component, meaning the artery wall, and not with the blood pressure-related component. The association was stronger in men and in people aged 70 and older. This research suggests that the vascular benefits of being fit may come from slower long-term changes in the artery wall rather than from blood pressure differences. Because the study is cross-sectional, it captures a single point in time and cannot prove that fitness causes lower stiffness. Even so, the findings support the idea that maintaining fitness into later life may help slow vascular aging.
Khairy L, Porter F, Brophy J, Lee D, Lefferts E. (2026). Associations of cardiorespiratory fitness with structural and load-dependent large artery stiffness in older adults.. American journal of physiology. Regulatory, integrative and comparative physiology. https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpregu.00211.2026