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Young Adults, Beware Of Mild, Asymptomatic COVID-19 Infection: It Can Cause Long-Term Health Complications

Young Adults, Beware Of Mild, Asymptomatic COVID-19 Infection: It Can Cause Long-Term Health Complications
Researchers found that the virus may have detrimental effects to arteries throughout the body, including in the carotid artery which supplies the brain with blood.

Long term adverse health complications is common among patients who recovered from COVID-19. This includes young adults with mild disease too.

Written by Jahnavi Sarma |Updated : May 10, 2021 12:13 PM IST

It is a known fact that many patients who have recovered from COVID-19 infection suffer health complications in the long run. But these complications are usually associated with severe disease. It is also more common among older patients. But now, new research at the Appalachian State University highlights the possible long term health impacts of COVID-19 on young, relatively healthy adults who were not hospitalized and who only had minor symptoms due to the virus. The journal Experimental Physiology published this study.

Stiffness of arteries found in mild cases among healthy young adults

Increased stiffness of arteries in particular was found in young adults, which may impact heart health, and can also be important for other populations who may have had severe cases of the virus. This means that young, healthy adults with mild COVID-19 symptoms may increase their risk of cardiovascular complications which may continue for some time after COVID-19 infection.

Changes in blood vessel may also happen

While SARS-CoV-2, the virus known for causing the COIVD-19 pandemic, is mainly characterized by respiratory symptoms, other studies have recently shown changes to blood vessel function among young adults 3-4 weeks after being infected with SARS-CoV-2 (Ratchford et al., 2021). This has also been observed months after infection in older adults as well (Riou et al. J Clin Med. 2021).

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Blood supply to brain may be affected

Researchers found that the virus may have detrimental effects to arteries throughout the body, including in the carotid artery which supplies the brain with blood. This draws comparisons between SARS-CoV-2 and other acute bacterial and viral infections which alter arterial stiffness such as rheumatic fever, Kawasaki disease, pneumonia, H. Pylori, and lupus, all of which may persist long after symptoms have resolved.

Finding the cause

The researchers tested young adults 3-4 weeks after being infected with SARS-CoV-2. They used an ultrasound on the carotid artery and took recordings of that image for 10-15 heart beats. These recordings were analyzed on a computer software to find measures of carotid stiffness. For the control group, they used data from young healthy adults who were studied prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. As far as limitations of this study goes, the researchers do not know if the SARS-CoV-2 group had any innate decrements in arterial stiffness prior to contracting the virus. They also did not control for menstrual cycle or variations in contraceptive use in either group. However, previous research has indicated that contraceptive use and menstrual cycle fluctuations among young healthy females may not influence the outcome measures they were studying.

The researchers are following these young adults for 6 months after initial infection with SARS-CoV-2 to observe if and when the arterial health of these individuals is improving. The results of the longitudinal study will be interesting, as these adults' symptomology may improve, yet their arterial health may not be recovering as quickly, which may have significance for their heart health.

(With inputs from Agencies)