Short-term changes of arterial compliance in the context of its confounders

Arterial compliance (AC) is an important index characterizing mechanical and functional properties of the arteries. In the clinical practice, changes of AC are considered to reflect long-term vascular changes, e.g. arterial stiffening associated with atherosclerosis. However, AC is often confounded by the changes (including short-term changes) in other cardiovascular characteristics, e.g. blood pressure, vasomotion and heart rate (HR). In this study, changes of AC were assessed in the context of potential confounders - systolic arterial pressure (SAP), total peripheral resistance (TPR) and HR perturbations during various physiological states (supine rest, orthostasis and cognitive load) in 56 young and healthy subjects. We observed that AC changes during orthostasis were associated with systemic vasoconstriction and increased HR while changes during cognitive load were associated with increased blood pressure and HR. These findings underline the importance of AC evaluation considering the changes in its confounders.