OU Health Sciences Center researchers have found American Indian young adults have reduced elasticity in their arteries, which is a sign of heart disease typically found in older people.

Arteries stretch adjusting to varying levels of blood flowing through them, according to a press release. Arteries can become stiff, which is a risk factor for heart disease and strokes.

American Indians are susceptible to other risk factors of heart disease, such as diabetes, but arterial elasticity had not been well studied yet, according to the research paper published by lead researcher Andrew Gardner.

Gardner and his team measured the elasticity in 51 American Indians and 66 Caucasian participants between 8 and 30 years old, according to Gardner’s paper. Overall, the young American Indians had 16 percent less elasticity in large arteries and 19 percent less in small arteries.

Participants in the study had similar levels of activity and average blood pressures, but the American Indians had a higher percentage of body fat, according to the paper.

“Reduced arterial elasticity is an early predictor of cardiovascular disease,” Gardner said in a press release. “Vigorous exercise – even 30 minutes per day – has a protective effect because it can lower body fat and increase arterial elasticity.”

Gardner received $100,000 from the National Center of Minority Health and Health Disparities to conduct the study and published his results in the August issue of Vascular Medicine.