Covid effect on blood vessels: A COVID-19 infection may accelerate the ageing of blood vessels by around five years, particularly in women, according to research published in the European Heart Journal.
Blood vessels naturally stiffen with age, but the study suggests that COVID-19 accelerates this process, increasing the risk of cardiovascular diseases such as stroke and heart attack.
Led by Professor Rosa Maria Bruno of Université Paris Cité, France, the international study tracked 2,390 people from 16 countries between 2020 and 2022. Participants were grouped into those who never had Covid, those with mild infections, and those hospitalised either in general wards or intensive care.
Also Read | Pandemic stress may have aged the brain, even without COVID infection: Study
Researchers measured vascular age using carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV), a standard test of arterial stiffness. All Covid-positive groups, including those with mild illness, showed stiffer arteries six and 12 months after infection compared to those who had not. The effect was most pronounced in women and in patients experiencing long COVID symptoms such as fatigue and breathlessness.
The findings showed that women with mild COVID had an average PWV increase of 0.55 meters per second, equivalent to five years of vascular ageing, while those admitted to intensive care recorded a 1.09 m/s increase. Researchers consider a 0.5 m/s increase clinically significant, raising heart disease risk by about 3% in a 60-year-old woman.
Vaccinated individuals generally had less arterial stiffness than those who were unvaccinated, and in some cases, vascular ageing appeared to stabilise or slightly improve over time.
“The Covid-19 virus acts on receptors in the lining of blood vessels, which may lead to vascular dysfunction and accelerated ageing,” said Bruno. “Differences in immune response between women and men may also explain why women are more affected.”
Experts say vascular ageing can be managed with lifestyle changes and treatments such as blood pressure- and cholesterol-lowering medication.
(Source: European Heart Journal)
