Ageing arteries, lingering risks: COVID’s quiet impact on heart health, Pg II.

Key Highlights:

• The CARTESIAN study, a multinational investigation across 18 countries, found that COVID-19 survivors had stiffer arteries compared to uninfected individuals.
• Arterial stiffness, a marker of vascular ageing, was more pronounced in women, showing changes equivalent to an extra decade of age.
• The study tracked nearly 2,400 participants and measured carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV) to assess arterial stiffness.
• Vaccination was found to blunt the impact of arterial stiffening, particularly in women who had received at least one dose.

Detailed Insights:

• Arterial stiffening increases the risk of heart attack, stroke, kidney disease, and dementia, posing a significant long-term healthcare burden.
• The CARTESIAN study revealed that every COVID-positive group had stiffer arteries than the control group, with survivors showing PWV about 0.4 meters per second faster.
• Persistent symptoms like fatigue, breathlessness, or muscle aches, often labeled "long COVID," were associated with even stiffer arteries, especially in women.
• While arterial stiffness stabilized or slightly improved in a subgroup followed for a year, no return to baseline was observed, indicating lasting vascular damage.
• Some clinicians suggest that a history of COVID-19 should inform preventive care due to its connection to heart problems, stroke, and death.
• The CARTESIAN study had limited representation from South Asia, leaving an urgent question about the impact of COVID-19 on vascular ageing in India, which already has a high burden of cardiovascular disease.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Vascular Ageing: The process of arteries becoming stiffer and less elastic with age, increasing cardiovascular risk.
• Pulse Wave Velocity (PWV): A measure of how fast blood pressure waves travel through arteries, indicating arterial stiffness.
• Long COVID: Persistent symptoms such as fatigue and breathlessness that can last for months after a COVID-19 infection.