Are Vascular Aging and Atherosclerosis Synonymous?

ABSTRACT

The development of plaques along the inner layer of arterial walls is known as atherosclerosis. Atherosclerotic plaques can become hardened by calcium deposition and fibrous tissue of the arterial wall may proliferate leading to arteriosclerosis. In a typical textbook, arteriosclerosis only has three categories-atherosclerosis, Monckeberg medial calcific sclerosis, and arteriolosclerosis, leaving out vascular aging when in fact, aging is the strongest risk factor for atherosclerosis. Thus, vascular aging is often confused with atherosclerosis. Up to now, there has been no appropriate pathological term for vascular aging. And arteriosclerosis is different from vascular aging, as atherosclerosis includes some components of pathologic aging. But in actuality, physiological aging and pathological aging can not be clearly distinguished. Therefore, in terms of aging, arteriosclerosis is included in vascular aging. More research is required to define vascular aging.