While the entire world feels older after COVID 19’s big entrance, in this study researchers found that women’s blood vessels of women post-COVID infection, regardless of infection, were measurably older. Your next question should be, “What do you mean by older?” As we age, our blood vessels age by getting stiffer. This stiffness correlates with increasing rates of vascular disease like heart attacks and strokes. In this study comparing those with and without COVID 19, women, but not men, demonstrated stiffer arteries after infection.
Numerous prior reports confirm two realities about COVID 19. First, up to 40% of those who have the infection continue to experience symptoms months to years later. Second, the COVID 19 infected demonstrate an increased rate of cardiovascular disease later on. Not only has epidemiological studies supported these findings, but also a variety of mechanistic studies looking at ACE2 receptor changes and ongoing systemic inflammation. Both knowing how to identify those at risk for such long-term cardiovascular consequences and how to help them drove this study.
As mentioned, our blood vessels age naturally by becoming stiffer and various chronic conditions like diabetes and inflammatory diseases accelerate this ageing process. To measure this stiffness of arteries inside our bodies, researchers use something called pulse wave velocity. This measurement of how fast our pulse travels through our arteries indicates how stiff they are. Stiffer vessels, like stiffer pipes, will transmit the pulse faster than more elastic arteries.
In the study, they compared those without the infection to 3 groups who had a COVID 19 infection. The first COVID infected group had a mild infection not requiring a hospital stay. The second group had to be admitted to a hospital, but not the intensive care unit. The final group had been sick enough to be admitted to the ICU. In men, they found no statistically significant increase in arterial stiffness by the pulse wave velocity between COVID non-infected and those infected. However, in women, all three infected groups demonstrated stiffer arteries.
As often is the case, they looked at other variables to determine what factors may play a role in this vascular ageing. Women with more post-COVID symptoms did show higher arterial stiffness, so further studies need to look at this possible link. The prior use of cholesterol lowering medications, Renin acting blood pressure medications, nor metformin for diabetes had any positive or negative effect on arterial stiffness.
Without getting into the weeds of the statistical data analysis or the biochemical mechanisms, we can see that COVID 19 leaves a mark on the arteries of at least women. While we wait on more answers from ongoing research, we can help our patients pursue healthier, more abundant lives by optimizing immune and vascular health in many ways now. While we should treat patients with acute and chronic COVID issues with anti-inflammatories, in the bigger picture, we have recommendations for everyone whether or not they have or had COVID. We teach them to lower the overall inflammatory burden on their bodies by eating healthier and smarter. Avoiding the high-inflammatory processed foods, while emphasizing whole foods and anti-inflammatory nutrients will support healthy arteries and robust immune systems. Those recommendations stand strong even before more details emerge on COVID-19 and arterial ageing.
Get started with Sanctuary today!
Click below to schedule your first conversation with our Patient Support Team.
Original Article:
Rosa Maria Bruno, Smriti Badhwar, Leila Abid, Mohsen Agharazii, Fabio Anastasio, Jeremy Bellien, Otto Burghuber, Luca Faconti, Jan Filipovsky, Lorenzo Ghiadoni, Cristina Giannattasio, Bernhard Hametner, Alun D Hughes, Ana Jeroncic, Ignatios Ikonomidis, Mai Tone Lonnebakken, Alessandro Maloberti, Christopher C Mayer, Maria Lorenza Muiesan, Anna Paini, Andrie Panayiotou, Chloe Park, Chakravarthi Rajkumar, Carlos Ramos Becerra, Bart Spronck, Dimitrios Terentes-Printzios, Yesim Tuncok, Thomas Weber, Pierre Boutouyrie, the CARTESIAN Investigators. Accelerated vascular ageing after COVID-19 infection: the CARTESIAN study. European Heart Journal, 17 August 2025 DOI: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehaf430
Thanks to Science Daily:
European Society of Cardiology. “Even mild Covid may leave blood vessels five years older.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 18 August 2025. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/08/250818102946.htm>.
Sanctuary Functional Medicine, under the direction of Dr Eric Potter, IFMCP MD, provides functional medicine services to Nashville, Middle Tennessee and beyond. We frequently treat patients from Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, and more... offering the hope of healthier more abundant lives to those with chronic illness.
Dr. Eric Potter graduated from Vanderbilt Medical School and then went on to specialize in internal medicine (adult) and pediatric care, spending significant time and effort in growing his medical understanding while caring for patients from all walks of life.
