CHD and cerebrovascular disease are responsible for about half the deaths that occur each year. Knowledge about the process of arteriosclerosis would go a long way in helping develop methods to prevent this disease. While aging may be one of the factors precipitating the arterosclerosis process, it is also well known that there are multiple factors that can cause the disease. The major risk factors for arterosclerosis are serum lipid concentrations, smoking, and hypertension. Another factor appears to be gender.
Men are approximately twice as likely to develop atherosclerosis as equivalent aged women.
Yet when all these factors are taken into account only about half of the variability of incidence of arteriosclerosis and coronary heart disease can be accounted for. Genetics may be a factor but conditions related to aging may also play a not so subtle role in developing the disease. Start with the fact that as people age, there are changes in blood dynamics that can adversely affect vascular functioning and speed up the process of cardiovascular disease. At the same time, elevated blood pressure coexists with other conditions that may increase cardiovascular disease such as obesity, diabetes mellitus and increased low-density lipid cholesterol. Not only does blood pressure increase with age, but also plasma cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol, as well as triglycerides.