Arterial stiffness in adults with Long COVID in sub‐Saharan Africa

Abstract Severe acute coronavirus‐2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) infection has been associated with endothelial damage, and impaired nitric oxide production, which results in arterial stiffness and increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Long COVID is a term used to describe the persistence or the development of new symptoms that can occur after an acute infection. Little is known about the association between arterial stiffness and Long COVID. An observational, cross‐sectional study in which arterial stiffness was measured with pulse wave velocity (PWV) was carried out in 74 participants between 19 and 40 years old (53 with Long COVID, 21 age and gender‐matched controls). Data was collected from participants between 1 and 9 months after acute COVID‐19 infection using the Complior analyze unit protocol. The Long COVID group had higher carotid‐radial‐PWV (crPWV) than controls (10 m/s interquartile range IQR 8.5–11.2 m/s) versus 8.8 m/s (IQR 7.7–9.2 m/s) as was their carotid‐radial‐arterial stiffness index (crASI) (2.26 cm/ms (IQR 1.9–2.56 cm/ms) vs. 2.01 cm/ms (IQR 1.82–2.27 cm/ms); p < 0.05) in both. They also had more type‐A waveforms, indicating increased arterial stiffening. Peripheral arterial stiffness was higher in adults with Long COVID than in controls who were never infected with SARS‐CoV‐2 as noted by the elevated levels of crPWV and crASI among adults with Long COVID.