Currently, we do not know what long-term effects Covid-19 will have on human health, but this study gives us an interesting clue. The study showed that Covid-19 survivors have significantly shorter telomeres than the Covid-19-free control group.
SARS-CoV-2 infection causes COVID-19 syndrome, which in the worst cases is characterized by severe respiratory distress, lung and cardiac fibrosis, release of inflammatory cytokines and immunosuppression.
This condition has so far led to the death of about 2.15% of the total infected world population. Among survivors, the so-called persistent post-COVID-19 syndrome (PPCS) is a common occurrence.
COVID-19 survivors experience one or more symptoms: fatigue, shortness of breath, memory loss, sleep disturbances, and difficulty concentrating, which are very similar to the symptoms of aging.
In this study, a cohort of 117 COVID-19 survivors (post-COVID-19) and 144 uninfected volunteers (COVID-19-free) were analyzed using telomere length measurement, which is suitable for biological age determination.
The results show a consistent biological age increase in the post-COVID-19 population, which observed an acceleration of 10.45 ± 7.29 years (+5.25 years above the normal range) compared to 3.68 ± 8.17 years for the COVID-19-free population (p < 0.0001).
This result corresponds to a significant shortening of telomeres in the post-COVID-19 cohort compared to the COVID-19-free subjects.
Previous telomere studies have shown that telomere shortening is one of the major risk factors for age-related chronic diseases such as metabolic and cardiovascular diseases, immune deficiency, diabetes, etc.
Therefore, a telomere maintenance/lengthening program may be beneficial for Covid-19 survivors to prevent possible future health problems.
