Table 3.

Clinical factors associated with microvascular dysfunction.

Clinical Factor	Measurement Method	Microvascular Bed Assessed	Effect on Microvascular Function
Age [36,70,73,74,75]		Skin, eye, skeletal muscle, heart	Function decreases by increasing age
Hormonal status [76,77,78,79]	Oestrogen levels, together with oestrogen receptor activity, are most accurate. Menopausal status and oral contraceptive therapy use are alternative surrogate markers.	Skin, skeletal muscle, heart	Function decreases with lower oestrogen activity
Hypercholesterolemia [71,80,81]	Serum cholesterol panel	Skin, eye, heart	Function decreases with higher serum low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels
Hyperglycaemia [82,83]	Glucose tolerance test, fasting glucose, HbA1c	Skin, eye, heart	Function decreases with higher plasma glucose levels
Hypertension [36,38,70,84,85]	24-h systolic blood pressure shows the highest correlation	Skin, eye, skeletal muscle, heart	Function decreases with higher systolic blood pressure and by duration of hypertension
Dietary intake [86]	Caffeine	Skin	Function is temporarily increased
Dietary intake [87,88]	High-fat diet	Skin, heart	Function is temporarily decreased
Physical inactivity [31,89,90,91]	24-h accelerometer, physical activity questionnaire	Skin, eye, skeletal muscle	Function decreases with more physical inactivity.
Obesity [8,70,92,93]	Waist circumference is more correlated than BMI or BSA.	Skin, eye, skeletal muscle, heart	Function decreases with increasing level of obesity
Sex [94,95]		Skin, eye, skeletal muscle, heart	Effect on function depends on other confounders.
Smoking [75,96]	Self-reported use	Skin, eye, heart	Function decreases with smoking and more pack years.

Abbreviations: BMI, body mass index; BSA, body surface area; HbA1c, glycated haemoglobin.