COVID-19 is also manifested with hypercoagulability, pulmonary intravascular coagulation, microangiopathy, and venous thromboembolism (VTE) or arterial thrombosis. Predisposing risk factors to severe COVID-19 are male sex, underlying cardiovascular disease, or cardiovascular risk factors including noncontrolled diabetes mellitus or arterial hypertension, obesity, and advanced age. The VAS-European Independent Foundation in Angiology/Vascular Medicine draws attention to patients with vascular disease (VD) and presents an integral strategy for the management of patients with VD or cardiovascular risk factors (VD-CVR) and COVID-19. VAS recommends (1) a COVID-19-oriented primary health care network for patients with VD-CVR for identification of patients with VD-CVR in the community and patients' education for disease symptoms, use of eHealth technology, adherence to the antithrombotic and vascular regulating treatments, and (2) close medical follow-up for efficacious control of VD progression and prompt application of physical and social distancing measures in case of new epidemic waves. For patients with VD-CVR who receive home treatment for COVID-19, VAS recommends assessment for (1) disease worsening risk and prioritized hospitalization of those at high risk and (2) VTE risk assessment and thromboprophylaxis with rivaroxaban, betrixaban, or low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH) for those at high risk. For hospitalized patients with VD-CVR and COVID-19, VAS recommends (1) routine thromboprophylaxis with weight-adjusted intermediate doses of LMWH (unless contraindication); (2) LMWH as the drug of choice over unfractionated heparin or direct oral anticoagulants for the treatment of VTE or hypercoagulability; (3) careful evaluation of the risk for disease worsening and prompt application of targeted antiviral or convalescence treatments; (4) monitoring of D-dimer for optimization of the antithrombotic treatment; and (5) evaluation of the risk of VTE before hospital discharge using the IMPROVE-D-dimer score and prolonged post-discharge thromboprophylaxis with rivaroxaban, betrixaban, or LMWH.

A number of conditions have been associated with functional changes of large arteries. The aim of this study was to evaluate the factors associated with aortic stiffness in patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD). The authors studied 86 patients with PAD (ankle-brachial pressure index [ABPI] ≤0.9) and 86 controls. Aortic stiffness was determined by pulse wave velocity (aPWV) using applanation tonometry. In PAD patients, aPWV was higher compared with controls (11 ± 3 vs 9.8 ± 1.8; P=.002). In multiple regression analysis, aPWV was independently associated with pulse pressure (β=0.05, P=.01) in the PAD patients and with age in the control group (β=0.08, P=.0005). The results of this study confirm an aPWV increase in patients with PAD and emphasize the association between blood pressure and aPWV. Further studies are necessary to assess whether higher aortic stiffening adds prognostic value to ABPI, which is the most powerful prognostic indicator in PAD.

Aortic augmentation index (AIx) is used to investigate arterial stiffness. The authors tested the hypothesis that patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD) demonstrate a higher AIx and also evaluated several related factors. In 97 patients with PAD, identified by ankle‐brachial pressure index (ABPI ≤0.9), and 97 controls (ABPI ≥0.91<1.4), AIx (%) was determined using tonometry of the radial artery. There was no significant difference between patients and controls in characteristics of age, sex, height, diastolic blood pressure, mean blood pressure, and heart rate. AIx was higher in patients with PAD (32±9 vs 28±9; P=.001). In multivariate regression analysis, AIx was independently associated with heart rate (β=−0.40, P=.0005). This study showed that AIx increased in patients with PAD and that heart rate is a determinant of AIx. Further studies are necessary to assess the pathophysiological and clinical importance of AIx in patients with PAD.

A series of epidemiological studies have shown that peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is prevalent particularly in elderly and in the presence of type 2 diabetes, smoking history, and hypertension. 1 In clinical practice, PAD can be detected by the measurement of anklebrachial index (ABI), a non-invasive, objective, easy, and reproducible test. 2 In several populations, the presence of an ABI < 0.9 (PAD) confers an independent risk for cardiovascular events and total mortality, 3 however, the pathophysiological basis of this independent association remains incompletely characterized. The increase of arterial stiffness observed in PAD patients 4,5 may have a major role. The aim of this study is to evaluate the association between c-fPWV and Aix@HR75, ABI, and SEVR in PAD and non-PAD patients. Arterial stiffening is a hallmark of the aging process and atherosclerosis, including peripheral arterial disease (PAD). We investigated the associations between carotidfemoral pulse wave velocity (c-fPWV), augmentation index corrected for heart rate (Aix@HR75), ankle brachial index (ABI), and subendocardial viability ratio (SEVR), an indicator of cardiac perfusion. The c-fPWV, Aix@HR75, and SEVR was estimated using applanation tonometry. The ankle systolic pressure measurements for the calculation of the ABI were obtained using an 8-mHz Doppler probe. The study group included 555 subjects, mean age 63 ± 11 years (248 PAD (ABI < 1.0), and 307 non-PAD (ABI ≥ 1.0 ≤ 1.3). After the stepwise selection process in both PAD and non-PAD patients SEVR was not related to c-fPWV and ABI (P = .154; P = .156) and (P = .101; P = .402), respectively. In PAD patients, SEVR was negatively related to Aix@HR75 (P < .0001) and aortic PP (P = .0005). In conclusion, arterial stiffness is associated with non-invasive indices of myocardial perfusion in PAD patients, suggesting a potential pathophysiological link for increased cardiovascular events.