Global Distributions of Age- and Sex-Related Arterial Stiffness: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of 167 Studies with 509,743 Participants 

A group from the King’s College London led by Yao Lu investigated age and sex differences in arterial stiffness using pulse wave velocity (PWV) measurements. The analysis included data from over 500,000 participants in 34 countries. They found that males had higher levels of PWV than females, but the gender differences diminished with age. Asian countries had higher PWV levels, which may contribute to their increased risk of certain types of strokes. Higher income countries were associated with lower PWV. The study further provides reference values for PWV that can be used to assess vascular aging and predict vascular risk.