1.2 Chronological Versus Vascular Age: Predictive Value for Cardiovascular Events and Identification of Patients with SUPERNOrmal Vascular Aging (SUPERNOVA)

Individuals whose arteries appears abnormally healthy in comparison to their CV risk factor burden (supernormal vascular aging, SUPERNOVA) represent an ideal model to discover novel pathways of cardiovascular protection. Purpose: 1) to introduce a novel definition of vascular age, as predicted age based on CV risk factors and PWV; 2) to test the hypothesis that individuals with the largest difference between chronological and vascular age (C-Vage) show a lower rate of CV events, and may thus be defined as SUPERNOVA. The best fitting model for age prediction was investigated in the multicenter, European, cross-sectional Reference Values for Arterial stiffness Collaboration Database (n = 11406). A survival analysis on the longitudinal cohort of the Malmo Diet and Cancer Study (MDCS, n = 2663) was then performed. The main outcome was a composite endpoint of fatal and non-fatal major cardiac events and strokes. In the Reference Values Cohort, the model explained 59.8