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Microcirculation on a Large Scale: Techniques, Tactics and Relevance of Studying the Microcirculation in Larger Population Samples
Author(s) -
STRAIN W. DAVID,
ADINGUPU DAMILOLA D.,
SHORE ANGELA C.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
microcirculation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.793
H-Index - 83
eISSN - 1549-8719
pISSN - 1073-9688
DOI - 10.1111/j.1549-8719.2011.00140.x
Subject(s) - population , microcirculation , autoregulation , disease , medicine , intensive care medicine , pathological , scale (ratio) , relevance (law) , neuroscience , pathology , psychology , blood pressure , physics , environmental health , quantum mechanics , political science , law
Please cite this paper as: Strain, Adingupu, and Shore (2012). Microcirculation on a Large Scale: Techniques, Tactics and Relevance of Studying the Microcirculation in Larger Population Samples. Microcirculation 19 (1), 37–46. Abstract The role of microcirculatory dysfunction is increasingly being recognized in the etiopathogenesis of cardiovascular disease. Whilst the importance of detailed mechanistic studies to determine the exact nature of these disturbances is without question, it was large‐scale population‐based studies that first identified the associations between deranged microvascular perfusion, autoregulation or structure, and subsequent target organ damage. This is the subject of considerable studies to establish whether there is a causal effect in either direction, or simply represents shared risk factors, although it is most likely to be a complex combination of bidirectional interactions. The techniques for investigating microcirculatory function have evolved almost exponentially over the last 75 years: So too have the strategies for investigation. Current epidemiological studies are focusing on attempting to untangle the inter‐relationship between risk factors and pathological mechanisms to attempt to determine whether these represent therapeutic targets or simple markers of unmeasured risk. We plan to review the techniques used for these population‐based studies, the advances made, and the clinical implications derived.