Persistent Endothelial Dysfunction in Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome: A Case-Control Study.
Biomedicines
; 9(8)2021 Aug 04.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1341646
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Endothelial dysfunction has a key role in the pathogenesis of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and its disabling complications. We designed a case-control study to assess the alterations of endothelium-dependent flow-mediated dilation (FMD) among convalescent COVID-19 patients.METHODS:
COVID-19 patients referred to a Pulmonary Rehabilitation Unit within 2 months from swab test negativization were consecutively evaluated for inclusion and compared to controls matched for age, gender, and cardiovascular risk factors.RESULTS:
A total of 133 convalescent COVID-19 patients (81.2% males, mean age 61.6 years) and 133 matched controls (80.5% males, mean age 60.4 years) were included. A significantly lower FMD was documented in convalescent COVID-19 patients as compared to controls (3.2% ± 2.6 vs. 6.4% ± 4.1 p < 0.001), confirmed when stratifying the study population according to age and major clinical variables. Among cases, females exhibited significantly higher FMD values as compared to males (6.1% ± 2.9 vs. 2.5% ± 1.9, p < 0.001). Thus, no significant difference was observed between cases and controls in the subgroup analysis on females (6.1% ± 2.9 vs. 5.3% ± 3.4, p = 0.362). Among convalescent COVID-19 patients, FMD showed a direct correlation with arterial oxygen tension (rho = 0.247, p = 0.004), forced expiratory volume in 1 s (rho = 0.436, p < 0.001), forced vital capacity (rho = 0.406, p < 0.001), and diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide (rho = 0.280, p = 0.008). Overall, after adjusting for major confounders, a recent COVID-19 was a major and independent predictor of FMD values (ß = -0.427, p < 0.001).CONCLUSIONS:
Post-acute COVID-19 syndrome is associated with a persistent and sex-biased endothelial dysfunction, directly correlated with the severity of pulmonary impairment.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Topics:
Long Covid
Language:
English
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Biomedicines9080957
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