Abstract 113: Impact of COVID-19 on arterial stiffness

Background: Arterial Stiffness is a manifestation of endothelial dysfunction and it can be used as a prediction parameter and a target for therapies aimed at ameliorating endothelial cell dysfunction which is raised after Covid 19 infection. Aims and Objectives: To evaluate arterial stiffness using carotid-femoral Pulse Wave Velocity (cfPWV) and to compare the difference in different groups among the study subjects. Methods and Results: Observational single centre study was done after randomly selecting 170 subjects from Telangana State Police Department after excluding subjects with chronic inflammatory diseases on chronic steroid therapy and pregnant/lactating subjects. Analysis after dividing them into 4 groups based on the presence or absence of past history of COVID-19 infection and the presence or absence of Comorbidities (Diabetes Mellitus, Systemic Hypertension, CAD, CVA or CKD) showed mean increase in cfPWV was 76.21 cm/s in Group-A (Covid-ve & Comorbidity-ve), 126.5 cm/s in Group-B (Covid+ve & Comorbidity-ve), 210.1 cm/s in Group-C (Covid-ve & Comorbidity+ve) and 263.9 cm/s in Group-D (Covid+ve & Comorbidity+ve). Significant p values were obtained for intergroup differences in cfPWV. Conclusions: The Arterial stiffness values of prior COVID-19 positive subjects were higher than the group of subjects without prior COVID-19 infection. Comorbidities also independently added to the risk. Pulse wave velocity can be considered as an easy non-invasive screening tool in post-COVID patients to identify possible high-risk candidates.