Covid infection ages blood vessels, especially in women, study shows

When the COVID-19 pandemic first emerged, doctors quickly realised it was more than a respiratory illness.

It left a trail of lingering symptoms—fatigue, brain fog, and breathlessness—that baffled both patients and scientists. Now, new research suggests another hidden legacy: Covid may be making our blood vessels age faster, especially in women.

A study published in the European Heart Journal reports that Covid infection could accelerate vascular ageing by up to five years. Blood vessels naturally stiffen with age, but researchers found the virus accelerates this process, leaving survivors at greater risk of heart attack, stroke, and other cardiovascular complications.

“Since the pandemic, we have learnt that many people who have had Covid are left with symptoms that can last for months or even years,” explained Professor Rosa Maria Bruno of Université Paris Cité in France, who led the study. “We believe Covid directly affects blood vessels, resulting in what we call early vascular ageing—where your arteries appear older than your actual age.”

The findings are based on data from 2,390 participants across 16 countries, including the UK, US, France, Brazil, and Australia. Volunteers were grouped according to whether they had never been infected, had mild Covid, were hospitalised in general wards, or had been admitted to intensive care.

To measure vascular ageing, researchers tracked how quickly blood pressure waves moved between the carotid artery in the neck and the femoral artery in the leg, a measure called carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV). The faster the wave, the stiffer the arteries.

Readings were taken six months and 12 months after infection.

The results were striking. Across all groups, people who had contracted Covid had stiffer arteries compared to those who hadn’t. Women were hit hardest. Even those with mild infections showed an average PWV increase of 0.55 metres per second.

For hospitalised women, it was 0.60, and for those treated in intensive care, 1.09. To put that into perspective, a rise of just 0.5 metres per second is equivalent to about five years of vascular ageing in a 60-year-old woman and raises the risk of cardiovascular disease by 3 per cent.

The study also found a protective link with vaccination. People who had been immunised tended to have less arterial stiffness compared to those who were unvaccinated. Encouragingly, the stiffness appeared to stabilise—or even improve slightly—over time.

Why women? Professor Rosa Maria Bruno suggests the difference could lie in biology. Women mount stronger immune responses than men, which can be helpful in fighting infection. But in the case of Covid, this heightened immune reaction may also damage blood vessels more severely after infection.

“The Covid-19 virus uses ACE2 receptors—proteins found on the lining of blood vessels—to enter and infect cells,” she said. “This can trigger vascular dysfunction and, combined with the body’s inflammatory response, may accelerate ageing of the arteries.”

Doctors say the good news is that vascular ageing is both measurable and manageable. Treatments such as blood pressure medication, cholesterol-lowering drugs, and lifestyle changes like diet and exercise can help reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

In an editorial accompanying the study, Dr Syed Bukhari of Johns Hopkins University called the findings a reminder of Covid’s long-term impact. “The CARTESIAN study makes the case that Covid has aged our arteries—especially in women. The challenge now is to identify ways to prevent or reverse this damage and protect those most vulnerable.”

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