• S Schnaubelt, J Oppenauer, D Tihanyi, M Mueller, E Maldonado-Gonzalez, S Zejnilovic, H Haslacher, T Perkmann, R Strassl, S Anders, T Stefenelli, S Zehetmayer, R Koppensteiner, H Domanovits, and O Schlager.
• From the, Department of Emergency Medicine, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
• J. Intern. Med. 2021 Aug 1; 290 (2): 437-443.

BackgroundCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) interferes with the vascular endothelium. It is not known whether COVID-19 additionally affects arterial stiffness.MethodsThis 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.ResultsTwenty-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.ConclusionCOVID-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.© 2021 The Authors. Journal of Internal Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Association for Publication of The Journal of Internal Medicine.

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