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(Stroke. 2000;31:1615.)
© 2000 American Heart Association, Inc.

Original Contributions

Cerebral Oxygenation Declines in Healthy Elderly Subjects in Response to Assuming the Upright Position

D. Jannet Mehagnoul-Schipper, MD; Lilian C. M. Vloet, MSN; Willy N. J. M. Colier, PhD; Willibrord H. L. Hoefnagels, MD, PhD René W. M. M. Jansen, MD, PhD

From the Department of Geriatric Medicine (D.J.M.-S., L.C.M.V., W.H.L.H., R.W.M.M.J.) and the Department of Physiology (W.N.J.M.C.), University Medical Center, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.

Correspondence to D. Jannet Mehagnoul-Schipper, MD, Department of Geriatric Medicine, University Medical Center Nijmegen, PO Box 9101, 6500 HB Nijmegen, Netherlands. E-mail j.schipper{at}czzoger.azn.nl

Background and Purpose—With increasing age, assuming the upright position is more often accompanied by symptoms such as dizziness and lightheadedness, possibly as a result of a diminished oxygen supply to the brain due to impaired cerebral autoregulation. We aimed to quantify postural changes in cerebral oxygenation and systemic hemodynamics in healthy elderly and young subjects.

Methods—In 18 healthy elderly subjects (aged 70 to 83 years) and 10 healthy young subjects (aged 22 to 45 years), frontal cortical oxygenation and hemodynamic responses were continuously monitored by near infrared spectroscopy and Finapres, respectively, before and during 10 minutes of active standing.

Results—Cortical oxyhemoglobin concentration [O₂Hb] decreased by -4.6±2.2 µmol/L (P<0.001) and cortical deoxyhemoglobin concentration increased by 1.5±2.4 µmol/L (P<0.05) in the elderly subjects after posture change, whereas these variables did not change significantly in the young subjects. The postural hemodynamic changes tended to be attenuated in the elderly subjects, except for the increases in systolic blood pressure (BP). Smaller postural increases in diastolic BP were related to larger [O₂Hb] decreases (r=0.53, P<0.01, corrected for the age effect).

Conclusions—Assuming the upright position evokes an asymptomatic decrease in frontal cortical oxygenation in healthy elderly subjects but not in healthy young subjects. Cortical [O₂Hb] changes are affected by diastolic BP changes. These findings may indicate that regulation of cerebral oxygenation alters with increasing age.

Key Words: aging • cerebral circulation • hypotension, orthostatic • oxygen • spectroscopy, near-infrared

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