PostCOVID effect on endothelial function in hypertensive patients: A new research opportunity

Abstract

SARS-CoV-2 is causing devastation both in human lives and economic resources. When the world seems to start overcoming the pandemics scourge, the threat of long-term complications of COVID-19 is rising. Reports show that some of these long-term effects may contribute to the main cause of morbimortality worldwide: the vascular diseases. Given the evidence of damage in the endothelial cells due to SARS-CoV-2 and that endothelial dysfunction precedes the development of arteriosclerosis, the authors propose to measure endothelial function around 6-12 months after acute disease in hypertensive patients, especially if they have other cardiovascular risk factors or overt vascular disease. The methods the authors propose are cost-effective and can be made available to any hypertension unit. These methods could be the "in vivo" assessment of endothelial function by flow mediated vasodilatation after ischemia by Laser-Doppler flowmetry and the measurement of plasma free circulating DNA and microparticles of endothelial origin.