{"id":13185,"date":"2025-08-29T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-29T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/?p=13185"},"modified":"2025-08-24T11:17:01","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T15:17:01","slug":"covid-linked-to-heart-problem-in-women-study-reveals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/?p=13185","title":{"rendered":"COVID linked to heart problem in women, study reveals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By\u00a0Maddison Brennan-Mills, News.com.au<\/p>\n\n\n\n

COVID-19 could leave behind a hidden problem that lingers<\/a> in women\u2019s bodies for years, a new study has found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The research revealed the virus can prematurely age women\u2019s blood vessels by around five years, raising their risk of heart attack and stroke later in life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study, published in the European Heart Journal<\/a><\/em>, followed nearly 2400 adults across 16 countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Researchers tracked changes in artery stiffness at six and 12 months after infection, and what they found was striking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Women who had Covid showed significant stiffening of their arteries, even when their original illness was mild. The more severe the infection, the worse the damage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Women admitted to intensive care had the highest increase, but the effect was still seen in those who stayed at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arterial stiffening matters because it is strongly linked to cardiovascular disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Experts estimate the five-year \u201caging\u201d of blood vessels could raise the risk of heart problems<\/a> by about 3 percent for a 60-year-old woman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By comparison, the effect in men was not statistically significant.rofessor Rosa Maria Bruno of Universit\u00e9 Paris Cit\u00e9 said the findings were a red flag for women\u2019s health after Covid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe know that Covid can directly affect blood vessels. Our findings highlight that there may be long-term consequences, especially for women, and that we need to identify who is at risk at an early stage to prevent heart attacks and strokes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study also shed light on long Covid. Women who continued to experience fatigue, breathlessness or brain fog were more likely to have signs of vascular aging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was some good news, though. Vaccinated people showed less arterial stiffening than those who had never received a jab, suggesting vaccines provide protection beyond preventing severe illness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scientists say the virus can affect the endothelium \u2013 the thin lining of blood vessels \u2013 via ACE2 receptors, with inflammation and immune responses contributing to long-term changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cardiologists say the research underlines the importance of follow-up care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Women who have had Covid, particularly those with ongoing symptoms, should be mindful of their heart health, experts say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regular check-ups, a healthy lifestyle, and management of blood pressure and cholesterol could all help offset the risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study is one of the largest international investigations into Covid\u2019s long-term vascular impact and adds to mounting evidence that the virus is not just a respiratory disease, but also a vascular one with lasting consequences.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Maddison Brennan-Mills, News.com.au COVID-19 could leave behind a hidden problem that lingers in women\u2019s bodies for years, a new study has found. The research revealed the virus can prematurely age women\u2019s blood […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13187,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[101,207,208,1320,290,648],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-covid-19","category-heart","category-heart-failure","category-long-cov","category-long-term-effects","category-womens-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13185"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13185\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13188,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13185\/revisions\/13188"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}