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Global Study Links COVID-19 to Faster Vascular Ageing, Especially in Women

Investigators urge long-term tracking to determine whether post-infection arterial stiffening leads to more heart attacks, strokes or dementia.

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Overview

  • The CARTESIAN cohort, published in the European Heart Journal, assessed about 2,390 participants across multiple countries and found higher carotid–femoral pulse wave velocity roughly six months after infection, with repeat measures near 12 months.
  • Women showed the clearest signal of increased arterial stiffness after COVID-19, with average PWV rises of about +0.55 m/s after mild illness, +0.60 m/s after hospitalization, and +1.09 m/s after ICU care, while changes in men were not statistically significant overall.
  • An increase of around 0.5 m/s corresponds to roughly five years of vascular ageing and is cited as a clinically relevant shift that modestly elevates cardiovascular risk.
  • Vaccination was associated with lower stiffness measurements, and many survivors’ PWV stabilized or improved by 12 months, whereas uninfected controls followed expected age-related increases.
  • Persistent symptoms at six months correlated with higher PWV in women, and researchers highlight possible endothelial and inflammatory mechanisms yet emphasize that causality and links to hard outcomes remain unproven.