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. 2021 Aug;290(2):437-443.
doi: 10.1111/joim.13275. Epub 2021 Mar 21.

Arterial stiffness in acute COVID-19 and potential associations with clinical outcome

S Schnaubelt  1 , J Oppenauer  1 , D Tihanyi  2 , M Mueller  3 , E Maldonado-Gonzalez  4 , S Zejnilovic  1 , H Haslacher  5 , T Perkmann  5 , R Strassl  6 , S Anders  2 , T Stefenelli  4 , S Zehetmayer  7 , R Koppensteiner  3 , H Domanovits  1 , O Schlager  3
Affiliations

Arterial stiffness in acute COVID-19 and potential associations with clinical outcome

S Schnaubelt et al. J Intern Med. 2021 Aug.

Abstract

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) interferes with the vascular endothelium. It is not known whether COVID-19 additionally affects arterial stiffness.

Methods: This case-control study compared brachial-ankle pulse wave (baPWV) and carotid-femoral pulse wave velocities (cfPWV) of acutely ill patients with and without COVID-19.

Results: Twenty-two COVID-19 patients (50% females, 77 [67-84] years) were compared with 22 age- and sex-matched controls. In COVID-19 patients, baPWV (19.9 [18.4-21.0] vs. 16.0 [14.2-20.4], P = 0.02) and cfPWV (14.3 [13.4-16.0] vs. 11.0 [9.5-14.6], P = 0.01) were higher than in the controls. In multiple regression analysis, COVID-19 was independently associated with higher cfPWV (β = 3.164, P = 0.004) and baPWV (β = 3.532, P = 0.003). PWV values were higher in nonsurvivors. In survivors, PWV correlated with length of hospital stay.

Conclusion: COVID-19 appears to be related to an enhanced PWV reflecting an increase in arterial stiffness. Higher PWV might be related to an increased length of hospital stay and mortality.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; arterial stiffness; cardiovascular risk; pulse wave velocity.

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Conflict of interest statement

None of the authors declare any financial or intellectual conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Comparison of baPWVmax (a) and cfPWV (b) values between COVID‐19 and the matched non‐COVID‐19 patients (baPWV: P = 0.019; cfPWV: P = 0.007). BaPWVmax = maximum brachial‐ankle pulse wave velocity; COVID‐19 = coronavirus disease 2019; cfPWV = carotid femoral pulse wave velocity.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Comparison of baPWVmax (a) and cfPWV (b) values between survivors and nonsurvivors in the COVID‐19 cohort (baPWV: P = 0.004; cfPWV: P = 0.056). BaPWVmax = maximum brachial‐ankle pulse wave velocity; COVID‐19 = coronavirus disease 2019; cfPWV = carotid femoral pulse wave velocity.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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