New Delhi: A new international study has found that COVID-19 infections could accelerate the ageing of blood vessels by nearly five years, significantly increasing cardiovascular risks—particularly among women and those with long COVID symptoms.
The research, published in the ‘European Heart Journal’, examined around 2,400 participants across 16 countries, including Australia, Brazil, and several European nations.
The findings suggest that while blood vessels naturally stiffen with age, the coronavirus infection speeds up this process, potentially raising the risk of heart disease and stroke.
Lead researcher Rosa Maria Bruno from Université Paris Cité explained that women were disproportionately affected.
“Differences were significant in women, but not in men,” the authors noted, adding that women with persistent post-COVID symptoms such as fatigue and breathlessness showed the highest increase in vascular ageing.
In cases of mild infection, women recorded an average increase in pulse wave velocity (a marker of arterial stiffness) by 0.55 metres per second.
This figure rose to 0.60 metres per second among those who were hospitalised, and exceeded one metre per second for women who required intensive care.
These changes are clinically significant and roughly equal to five years of natural ageing, researchers said.
The team assessed vascular health using a device that measures carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity—the speed at which blood pressure waves move between arteries in the neck and legs.
A higher velocity indicates stiffer arteries and greater vascular ageing. Measurements were taken six months and again 12 months after infection.
Interestingly, while vascular stiffness stabilised or improved in COVID-positive individuals over 12 months, those who never had the infection showed a continued progression in arterial ageing—underscoring the complexity of the disease’s long-term effects.
The coronavirus targets ACE2 receptors, which are present on blood vessel linings, to enter cells.
“This interaction can disrupt vascular function and accelerate ageing,” Bruno said. Additionally, the immune response, while protective, may also damage blood vessels.
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Women, who typically mount a stronger immune response, may face greater risk of such damage after infection.
An accompanying editorial by Harvard Medical School researchers described the phenomenon as part of “COVID-19’s vascular legacy,” calling it real, measurable, and sex-specific.
While the acute crisis of the pandemic has eased, post-acute COVID syndrome presents a new challenge.
Experts say the next step is to identify modifiable factors to prevent or reverse COVID-related vascular ageing and protect those who remain vulnerable.
