NEW DELHI: Even mild cases of Covid-19 can have long-term harmful impacts on cardiovascular health, a latest study has said.
The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Medicine, is the first to compare pre and post-Covid-infection levels of arterial stiffness - a marker associated with the ageing and function of our arteries.
The study found that in individuals diagnosed with mild Covid-19, artery and central cardiovascular function were affected by the disease two to three months after infection. The side effects included stiffer and more dysfunctional arteries that could lead to cardiovascular disease development.
“We were surprised to observe such a decline in vascular health, which deteriorated even further with time since Covid-19 infection,” said the co-author, Maria Perissiou from the University of Portsmouth.
“Usually, you would expect inflammation to decrease with time after infection, and for all the physiological functions to go back to normal or a healthy level,” Perissiou said.
Evidence suggests that this phenomenon stems from Covid-19 triggering the auto-immune process that leads to vasculature deterioration, the study said. The long-term consequences of the disease on vascular health still need to be explored, the study further said.