CARTESIAN Study

Latest Update

The CARTESIAN study now includes 60 centres in 30 Countries and received Ethical Committee Approval in 13 countries (Austria, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Mexico, Norway, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States).

23 centres from 13 countries have obtained Ethical Committee approval. 

3 centres from 3 Countries have started recruitment (Brescia-Italy, Plzen-Czech Republic, Paris-France), this is a great achievement for our consortium! 

Please click here to view slides from the CARTESIAN Study Investigator Meetings. 

Background and rationale

In December 2019, an outbreak of pneumonia caused by a novel coronavirus, then officially named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), occurred in Wuhan, Hubei province (China), and has spread rapidly throughout China and the world. Although the clinical manifestations of coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) as caused by SARS-CoV-2 are dominated by respiratory symptoms, the cardiovascular system is heavily affected at multiple levels.

To gain insight into the long-term vascular consequences of COVID-19, high-quality data collection is needed, with follow-up studies amongst the survivors of acute infection. The fragmented evidence available to date indicate that a bidirectional relationship between cardiovascular disease and COVID-19 is present: on one hand, COVID-19 leads to cardiometabolic alterations and accelerated vascular ageing, on the other hand, COVID-19 outcome is worse in patients with pre-existing cardiometabolic disease. Obtaining an accurate vascular phenotyping in the largest number possible of individuals is needed in order to identify early predictors of CV events in individuals infected by SARS-CoV-2 and orient toward the best preventive strategy.

In this project we will evaluate: whether an accelerated vascular ageing is associated with COVID-19 and whether vascular ageing is further accelerated as a function of COVID-19 severity and of pre-existing cardiometabolic disease and background treatments; whether psychosocial factors play a role in COVID-19-induced accelerated vascular ageing process.

Primary aim of the study

To study the medium- and long-term effects (3-6 months and 1 year) of SARS-CoV-2 infection on arterial stiffness and central haemodynamics.

Please click below for more information:

Study Design

Study Funding

Principal Investigators and Scientific Committee

Requirements for participating centers