By Dr Say Tian Ling is a medical doctor at DA Orchard MedSuites
Blood pressure is the number most people associate with heart health. But arteries themselves age at their own pace – sometimes faster or slower than the rest of the body – and by the time blood pressure alone flags a problem, the underlying vessel changes may have been developing for years.
“Someone can feel completely healthy while their vascular age is meaningfully ahead of their actual age.”
– Dr Say
Pulse Wave Velocity (PWV) measures exactly this: how quickly a pulse of blood travels through the arteries, which reflects how stiff or flexible those vessel walls have become. It’s measured non-invasively, with cuffs placed on both wrists and both ankles – no probes or needles involved. Stiffer arteries force the heart to work harder and are strongly associated with cardiovascular risk – a relationship well-established enough that a 2024 international consensus, published in Hypertension⁶, set out formal standards for how PWV devices should be validated for clinical use, reflecting how central this measurement has become to vascular risk assessment.
What makes arterial stiffness worth catching early is that it typically develops with no symptoms at all – someone can feel completely healthy while their vascular age is meaningfully ahead of their actual age. Research has also connected higher PWV to increased risk of cognitive decline, suggesting that vascular ageing doesn’t stay contained to the heart, but can affect brain health as well.
Encouragingly, this isn’t a one-way process. While arterial stiffening is a natural part of ageing, its pace is influenced by modifiable factors – physical activity, blood pressure control, sleep, and chronic stress all appear to play a role in how quickly or slowly this progresses, based on current research.
DA Orchard MedSuites offers Bonsai, a longevity screen covering seven key indicators of biological ageing – including Arteries – in one comprehensive visit. Book your screen today at DA Orchard MedSuites here.
⁶ https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.123.21618 There are various blood markers that can indicate silent inflammation and stress on your body’s systems long before any symptom appears. High-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) is the one most commonly used clinically. Conventional lab ranges often treat anything under 3 mg/L as “normal” – but a growing body of research suggests the truly optimal range is closer to below 1.0 mg/L. A large 2024 UK Biobank study of over 273,000 adults, published in Scientific Reports, found that markers of chronic low-grade inflammation were associated with meaningfully higher risk – and earlier onset – of conditions including coronary artery disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and stroke.
