New laboratory evidence for the association between endothelial dysfunction and COVID‐19 disease progression

There is growing evidence that angiotensin‐converting enzyme 2 is highly expressed on endothelial cells, endothelial dysfunction plays a critical role in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) progression, but laboratory evidence is still lacking. This study established a multicenter retrospective cohort of 966 COVID‐19 patients from three hospitals in Wuhan, China. We found that male (62.8% vs. 46.5%), old age [72 (17) vs. 60.5 (21)], and coexisting chronic diseases (88.5% vs. 60.0%) were associated with poor clinical prognosis in COVID‐19. Furthermore, the deteriorated patients exhibited more severe multiorgan damage, coagulation dysfunction, and extensive inflammation. Additionally, a cross‐sectional study including 41 non‐COVID‐19 controls and 39 COVID‐19 patients assayed endothelial function parameters in plasma and showed that COVID‐19 patients exhibited elevated vascular cell adhesion molecule‐1 (VCAM‐1) (median [IQR]: 0.32 [0.27] vs. 0.17 [0.11] μg/ml, p