ABSTRACT
Since 1900, the average life expectancy for Americans has risen from 48 to 77.3 years.
Over this period, the U.S. population expanded threefold, while the subset aged 65 and
older increased 10-fold. The post-World War II baby boom will further expand this age
group from the current 13% to 19.6% in 2030 (1). Furthermore, the fastest-growing age
group, comprising those aged 85 years or older, has quadrupled since 1960 and will reach
19.5 million by 2030 (Fig. 1). Because both the prevalence and incidence of
cardiovascular (CV) disease increase dramatically with age, this “graying” of the
population has created a huge number of elderly patients requiring treatment. It must be
emphasized, however, that aging per se is not necessarily accompanied by CV disease.
This chapter will set the stage for those that follow by delineating the changes in the CV
system that occur during the aging process in the absence of CV disease. This is a
challenging task, given the many factors that blur their separation. Nevertheless, it is
important to define normal CV structure and function in older adults to facilitate the
accurate diagnosis of CV disease in this rapidly growing age group.
