Even mild COVID-19 infection can harm heart health according to studies

Even mild cases of COVID-19 can have long-term harmful impacts on cardiovascular health, a study has warned.

The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Medicine, is the first to compare pre and post-COVID-infection levels of arterial stiffness; a marker associated with the ageing and function of our arteries.

Researchers found that in individuals diagnosed with mild COVID-19, artery and central cardiovascular function were affected by the disease two to three months after infection.

Side effects include stiffer and more dysfunctional arteries that could lead to cardiovascular disease development, they said.

Emerging evidence suggests that this phenomenon stems from COVID-19 triggering the auto-immune process that leads to vasculature deterioration, the researchers said.

While COVID-19 has been associated with a type of acute heart failure and vascular dysfunction, the long-term consequences of the disease on vascular health still need to be explored, they said.

As many as 32 participants in the study were monitored between October 2019 and April 2022 at the University of Split School of Medicine, Croatia.

Most were young, less than 40 years old, and healthy. Only 9 percent of the group had high blood pressure, and none had high cholesterol.

Two were diabetic, and 78 percent did not smoke. The group was also almost an even split between males (56 percent) and females (44 percent).