text: Aging affects the cardiovascular responses to cold stress in humans.
  Cardiovascular-related mortality peaks during cold winter months, particularly in older adults. Acute physiological responses, such as increases in blood pressure, in response to cold exposure may contribute to these associations. To determine whether the blood pressure-raising effect (pressor response) of non-internal body temperature-reducing cold stress is greater with age, we measured physiological responses to 20 min of superficial skin cooling, via water-perfused suit, in 12 younger [25 +/- 1 (SE) yr old] and 12 older (65 +/- 2 yr old) adults. We found that superficial skin cooling elicited an increase in blood pressure from resting levels (pressor response; P < 0.05) in younger and older adults. However, the magnitude of this pressor response (systolic and mean blood pressure) was more than twofold higher in older adults (P < 0.05 vs. younger adults). The magnitude of the pressor response was similar at peripheral (brachial) and central (estimated in the aorta) measurement sites. Regression analysis revealed that aortic pulse wave velocity, a measure of central arterial stiffness obtained before cooling, was the best predictor of the increased pressor response to superficial skin cooling in older adults, explaining approximately 63% of its variability. These results indicate that there is a greater pressor response to non-internal body temperature-reducing cold stress with age in humans that may be mediated by increased levels of central arterial stiffness.
  
entities.text: ['cardiovascular']
entities.type: Anatomical_system
entities.entity_id: PMID-19679742_T1
entities.text: ['Cardiovascular']
entities.type: Anatomical_system
entities.entity_id: PMID-19679742_T2
entities.text: ['blood']
entities.type: Organism_substance
entities.entity_id: PMID-19679742_T3
entities.text: ['blood']
entities.type: Organism_substance
entities.entity_id: PMID-19679742_T4
entities.text: ['skin']
entities.type: Organ
entities.entity_id: PMID-19679742_T5
entities.text: ['skin']
entities.type: Organ
entities.entity_id: PMID-19679742_T6
entities.text: ['blood']
entities.type: Organism_substance
entities.entity_id: PMID-19679742_T7
entities.text: ['brachial']
entities.type: Organism_subdivision
entities.entity_id: PMID-19679742_T8
entities.text: ['aorta']
entities.type: Multi-tissue_structure
entities.entity_id: PMID-19679742_T9
entities.text: ['aortic']
entities.type: Multi-tissue_structure
entities.entity_id: PMID-19679742_T10
entities.text: ['arterial']
entities.type: Multi-tissue_structure
entities.entity_id: PMID-19679742_T11
entities.text: ['skin']
entities.type: Organ
entities.entity_id: PMID-19679742_T12
entities.text: ['arterial']
entities.type: Multi-tissue_structure
entities.entity_id: PMID-19679742_T13
entities.text: ['blood']
entities.type: Organism_substance
entities.entity_id: PMID-19679742_T14
entities.text: ['body']
entities.type: Organism_subdivision
entities.entity_id: PMID-19679742_T15
entities.text: ['body']
entities.type: Organism_subdivision
entities.entity_id: PMID-19679742_T16