Long COVID linked to greater risk of high blood pressure

Source: The Conversation – UK

Long COVID is often associated with symptoms such as persistent fatigue, shortness of breath and brain fog. But evidence increasingly shows that long COVID may have a broad effect on the cardiovascular system, as well.

Previously, our research found that long COVID was associated with higher risk of heart disease. Now, our latest study shows that people who have long COVID are at greater risk of developing hypertension (high blood pressure). This risk was found even in people whose initial COVID infection was mild and did not require hospitalisation.

Our study included more than 1.2 million Swedish adults aged 18 to 65 living in Stockholm County. We used data from the MIRACLE-S cohort, which tracks diagnoses, healthcare visits, hospitalisations and prescription information from these participants.

Participants with pre-existing hypertension and those hospitalised with COVID were excluded from our analysis. This allowed us to focus on milder infections and the long-term effects COVID may have on blood pressure.

Between October 2020 and January 2025, 8,365 (0.7%) participants were diagnosed with long COVID. During follow-up, 18% of all participants were diagnosed with hypertension.

Overall, the incidence of hypertension in the long COVID group was between 22% and 23% during the follow-up period. After adjusting for other factors that may affect hypertension risk – such as age, socioeconomic status and whether a person was diagnosed with any other health conditions – this meant that people with long COVID had a 14% higher risk of hypertension than those who did not have long COVID.

When analysed by sex, the risk of hypertension was similar in women and men. But among those with long COVID, hypertension occurred in 16% of women and 24% of men.

We also found that the association between long COVID and hypertension was stronger in older age groups. This makes sense, given age is associated with many changes to cardiovascular health that can increase blood pressure. For instance, the arteries tend to become stiffer in old age. This forces the heart to work harder in order to pump blood.

The association between long COVID and hypertension was also stronger in people who were diagnosed with diabetes. This may indicate that all three conditions share overlapping cardiometabolic mechanisms. These findings will need to be confirmed in future research.

Long COVID and hypertension

There are several interconnected mechanisms that may explain the association we observed between long COVID and hypertension.

For instance, studies have shown that in healthy adults, a COVID infection can impair arterial function and alter blood pressure for up to three years. Such physiological changes may help to explain the link that our study showed between long COVID and hypertension.

But as our research was an observational study, it meant we couldn’t directly measure factors such as blood pressure or arterial stiffness. This means future research will need to investigate whether such cardiometabolic changes can explain the link between hypertension and long COVID.

Our study also did not collect information on treatments that may have been initiated during follow-up which might have affected blood pressure. It will be important for future studies to better adjust for these factors so that we can better understand the connection between long COVID and hypertension.

Still, our findings may have important implications for clinical practice. Hypertension remains one of the key factors that can be changed to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, such as coronary heart disease. Understanding that people who have long COVID are at increased risk of experiencing hypertension could provide an important opportunity to intervene early and prevent cardiovascular disease.

The findings also suggest that people with long COVID should have blood pressure assessments performed more frequently – particularly if they have additional cardiovascular risk factors. But whether a specific enhanced screening strategy improves outcomes remains to be established.

As our understanding of COVID evolves, it’s becoming increasingly apparent that the virus’s impact on health can persist long after the initial infection. This could have implications not only for cardiovascular health, but for the management of many chronic diseases.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Original source: https://analysis1.mil-osi.com/2026/10/26/long-covid-linked-to-greater-risk-of-high-blood-pressure/