Open AccessPostCOVID effect on endothelial function in hypertensive patients: A new research opportunity
Author(s) -
GiménezMiranda Luis,
BeltránRomero Luis,
LeónJimenez David,
Stiefel Pablo
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
the journal of clinical hypertension
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.909
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1751-7176
pISSN - 1524-6175
DOI - 10.1111/jch.14376
Subject(s) - medicine , endothelial dysfunction , arteriosclerosis , endothelium , vasodilation , disease , cardiology , ischemia , pandemic , intensive care medicine , covid-19 , infectious disease (medical specialty)
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.