Key result
Adults with Down syndrome have lower arterial stiffness unlinked to obesity measures.
Why the study?
Adults with Down syndrome have more cardiovascular disease risk factors but lower arterial stiffness, prompting investigation into differences in risk factors and whether they predict arterial stiffness.
Do cardiovascular disease risk factors and arterial stiffness differ between adults with and without Down syndrome, and do risk factors predict arterial stiffness?
Cross-Sectional (n=90)
Do cardiovascular disease risk factors and arterial stiffness differ between adults with and without Down syndrome, and do risk factors predict arterial stiffness?
Despite having a greater percentage of obesity-related risk factors, adults with Down syndrome have lower arterial stiffness, and increased obesity does not appear to be associated with arterial health in this population.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Does not support using obesity to predict arterial stiffness in Down syndrome; hypothesis-generating for differential vascular responses.
Background Adults with Down syndrome (DS) have more cardiovascular disease risk factors but lower arterial stiffness than adults without DS. We investigated differences in cardiovascular disease risk factors and whether risk factors predict arterial stiffness in adults with and without DS. Methods Forty adults with DS and 50 without DS participated in this study. We measured body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), blood pressure (BP), moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) with accelerometry, and arterial stiffness with carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (CF-PWV). Results Adults with DS had higher WC, BMI, and MVPA, and lower CF-PWV than those without DS ( P ≤ 0.004). No significant differences were found between groups for age ( P = 0.187), weight ( P = 0.336), BP ( P = 0.335), and total risk factors ( P = 0.463). Age ( P < 0.001, R 2 change = 0.33), DS ( P < 0.001, R 2 change = 0.17), and WC ( P = 0.003, R 2 change = 0.06) contributed to the prediction model for CF-PWV ( R 2 = 0.56, P < 0.001) for the entire sample of adults with and without DS. Only age predicted CF-PWV in adults with DS ( P < 0.001; R 2 = 0.36), whereas age ( P < 0.001, R 2 change = 0.52) and BMI ( P = 0.002, R 2 change = 0.11) predicted CF-PWV ( R 2 = 0.63, P < 0.001) in adults without DS. Conclusion Adults with and without DS had similar average numbers of cardiovascular disease risk factors; however, adults with DS had a greater percentage of risk factors for obesity than adults without DS. Age may contribute to arterial stiffness in adults with and without DS. Increased levels of obesity do not appear to be associated with arterial health in adults with DS.
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Ballenger et al. (2025) conducted a cross-sectional in Down syndrome (n=90). Down syndrome vs. Adults without Down syndrome was evaluated on Differences in cardiovascular disease risk factors and arterial stiffness (carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity) (p=≤ 0.004). Adults with Down syndrome had lower arterial stiffness than those without (P≤0.004), and unlike the general population, obesity measures did not predict arterial health in this group.
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