When most people think of COVID, they think of the lungs. But what if I told you the real time bomb might be in your blood vessels?
One of the most striking papers I’ve read recently showed that arterial stiffness — measured by pulse wave velocity (PWV) — rises sharply after COVID-19 infection. This isn’t just an obscure lab measurement. PWV is one of the most powerful predictors we have for heart attack, stroke, dementia, and kidney disease. It’s a direct window into how fast your arteries are aging.
Bruno, Rosa Maria, et al. "Accelerated vascular ageing after COVID-19 infection: the CARTESIAN study." European Heart Journal (2025): ehaf430.
The data were startling enough. But what really caught my attention was that in this international study, it wasn’t just the COVID-positive patients whose arteries stiffened. The group that showed the highest increase in vascular aging were the people classified as “COVID-negative.”
Why would that happen? If they didn’t have COVID, what was driving their arteries to age so rapidly? And — the question no one in the research community wants to ask out loud — were they vaccinated, and could that have contributed?
That question alone unsettles many people. Some prefer I didn’t even raise it. But ignoring uncomfortable possibilities isn’t science. True science asks the difficult questions, even when the answers may be inconvenient.
What is Pulse Wave Velocity and Why Does It Matter?
Every time your heart beats, a wave of pressure travels down your arteries. If your arteries are healthy and elastic, the wave moves slowly. If your arteries are stiff, the wave shoots forward much faster. That speed is your pulse wave velocity.
