Cardio-oncology & otherCohort study
Accelerated vascular ageing after COVID-19 infection: the CARTESIAN study
- Prospective cohort study
- multicentre
- 34 centres in 16 countries
Authors' conclusion
COVID-19 is associated with early vascular ageing in the long term, especially in women.
Study context
- Population
- COVID-19 survivors and COVID-19-negative controls (age 50 ± 15 years, 49.2% women)
- Participants
- 2,390 survivors
- Exposure
- COVID-19-positive vs COVID-19-negative controls
- Outcome
- Carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV), a biomarker of large artery stiffness
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Adjusted PWV
Controls
7.53
adjusted mean · 95% CI 7.09–7.97 · m/s
- Not hospitalized vs Controls
- difference +0.41 m/s; P < 0.001
- General wards vs Controls
- difference +0.37 m/s; P = 0.001
- ICU vs Controls
- difference +0.40 m/s; P = 0.003
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Adjusted pulse wave velocity (PWV) difference vs controls, women (sex-stratified)
m/s
- Women, group 2 (not hospitalized) vs controls
- +0.55
- Women, group 3 (general wards) vs controls
- +0.60
- Women, group 4 (intensive care units) vs controls
- +1.09
- P < .001 for all
Adjusted PWV difference vs controls, men (sex-stratified)
- PWV differences not significant in men
PWV by persistent symptoms, COVID-19-positive women
- Persistent symptoms: adjusted PWV
- 7.52 m/s (95% CI 7.09; 7.96)
- No persistent symptoms: adjusted PWV
- 7.13 m/s (95% CI 6.67; 7.59)
- Persistent symptoms vs none
- P < 0.001
- regardless of disease severity and CV confounders
PWV change over 12 months
- Stable or improved PWV in COVID+ groups; progression in COVID- group
Parts of this Brief are withheld: the automatic checks could not confirm them against the abstract.
Original publication
Accelerated vascular ageing after COVID-19 infection: the CARTESIAN study. Eur Heart J. Published 17 August 2025. doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehaf430
Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it