Which statement about aging and arterial changes is true?

• A. Arteries become more elastic with age
• B. Atherosclerosis affects veins more than arteries
• C. Arteriosclerosis involves hardening and loss of elasticity of arteries
• D. Arterial pulses are unaffected by aging

Answer: (C)

With aging, arteries progressively lose elasticity and become stiffer due to structural changes in the vessel wall—elastin degrades, collagen increases, and calcium can deposit. This condition, arteriosclerosis, reduces arterial compliance and raises systolic blood pressure and pulse pressure, affecting how the pulse feels and how the heart works. That’s why the true statement is that arteriosclerosis involves hardening and loss of elasticity of arteries.

Arteries do not become more elastic with age; that would contradict the stiffening process. Atherosclerosis targets arteries with plaque buildup, not veins, so it’s not a vein-dominant condition. Arterial pulses are indeed affected by aging due to reduced arterial compliance, not left unchanged.