Endothelial dysfunction in patients with post-COVID 19 syndrome

<bold>Introduction:</bold> COVID-19 is a respiratory disease related to endothelial dysfunction(ED) during an acute phase. ED affects the evolution and prognosis of the patient. Photopletismography has been shown to be an accessible method that evaluates endothelial function. At this moment, few studies assess the ED in patients with post-COVID syndrome according to the severity. <bold>Objective:</bold> Evaluate endothelial dysfunction in patients with three months follow-up who were hospitalized during the acute phase of COVID-19. <bold>Methods:</bold> Cross-sectional study. Patients with post-COVID-19 syndrome who were hospitalized during the acute phase were included; these patients were followed up three months after their hospitalization. ED was diagnosed according to maximum amplitude time/total time (MAT/TT) higher than 0.30. <bold>Results:</bold> 163 patients were included, 35.5% were women. The age was 56 ± 12.3 years. The most prevalent comorbidities were obesity(59.66%), hypertension(51.70%) and pulmonary disease(83.52%). Subjects that required invasive mechanical ventilation(IVM) during the acute phase had less obesity prevalence(53.1% VS 71,4%, p=0.017) and a higher prevalence of ED(84.9% vs 71.43%, p=0.031) compared to subjects without IVM. In Multivariate analysis, subjects with VMI had 2.85 more risk of ED(OR 2.85, 95CI, p=0.031). <bold>Discussion:</bold> Photopletismography has shown to be an accessible method to evaluate ED. It has been demonstrated that post-COVID syndrome is associated with ED. Based on the results, patients who required VMI had more endothelial dysfunction. <bold>Conclusion:</bold> IVM is a factor in having ED, even though it could be the other way around.