Arterial Stiffness and Coronary Artery Disease

Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory response involving lipid accumulation, smooth cell proliferation, cellular apoptosis, necrosis, fibrosis and local inflammation.It is a leading cause of death in adults.Arterial stiffness results from a degenerative process affecting the extracellular matrix of elastic arteries under the effect of age and cardiovascular risk factors (such as diabetes, hypertension, smoking and sedentary lifestyle).Cardiovascular risk factors are associated with both the atherosclerotic process and arterial stiffness; these conditions have an age-related progression and develop at similar sites of the arterial tree.Assessment of arterial stiffness has emerged as a key tissue biomarker for cardiovascular risk stratification and estimation of biological age.This review study aimed to describe the pathophysiology of arterial stiffness, indirect measurement methods and clinical implications for the management of atherosclerotic disease [1][2][3][4].