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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2016 Jun 1.
Published in final edited form as: J Mol Cell Cardiol. 2015 Apr 11;83:1–13. doi: 10.1016/j.yjmcc.2015.04.005

Figure 12. Aging and atherosclerosis are intimately intertwined.

Figure 12

This study imaged the arteries of mummies from over 4000 years of human history ranging from before the Common Era (BCE) to the Common Era (CE) to detect the presence and severity of atherosclerosis defined as calcified plaques within the arterial wall. The major finding was that although diet and lifestyle differed widely among the populations studied (Panel A) the prevalence and severity of atherosclerosis in BCE was nearly identical to that of CE. In both epochs, the severity of atherosclerosis was associated with increasing age (Panel B) (Adapted from Ref. 41)