In a new study, researchers found medication for high blood pressure could improve COVID-19 survival rates and reduce the severity of the infection.
The research was conducted by a team from the University of East Anglia and elsewhere.
Researchers studied 28,000 patients taking antihypertensives—a class of drugs that are used to treat hypertension (high blood pressure).
They found that the risk of severe COVID-19 illness and death was reduced for patients with high blood pressure who were taking Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme inhibitors (ACEi) or Angiotensin Receptor Blockers (ARB).
Previous research has shown that patients with cardiovascular diseases are at a particular risk of severe COVID-19 infection.
But at the start of the pandemic, there was concern that specific medications for high blood pressure could be linked with worse outcomes for COVID-19 patients.
In the study, the team wanted to find out what the impact of these medications is for people with COVID-19.
They studied the outcomes for patients taking antihypertensives—looking particularly at what we call ‘critical’ outcomes such as being admitted to intensive care or being put on a ventilator, and death.
The team analyzed data from 19 studies related to COVID-19 and ACEi and ARB medications. The meta-analysis involved more than 28,000 patients and is the largest and most detailed such study to date.
They compared data from COVID-19 patients who were taking ACEi or ARB medications with those who were not—focusing on whether they experienced ‘critical’ events (admission to intensive care and invasive or non-invasive ventilation) and death.
They found that a third of COVID-19 patients with high blood pressure and a quarter of patients overall were taking an ACEi/ARBs.
This is likely due to the increased risk of infection in patients with co-morbidities such as cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, and diabetes.
But the really important thing there is no evidence that these medications might increase the severity of COVID-19 or risk of death.
On the contrary, they found that there was a much lower risk of death and critical outcomes, so they might in fact have a protective role—particularly in patients with hypertension.
COVID-19 patients with high blood pressure who were taking ACEi/ARB medications were 67% less likely to have a critical or fatal outcome than those not taking these medications.
The research provides substantial evidence to recommend continued use of these high blood pressure medications if the patients were taking them already.
One author of the study is Dr. Vassilios Vassiliou from UEA’s Norwich Medical School.
The study is published in Current Atherosclerosis Reports.
Copyright © 2020 Knowridge Science Report. All rights reserved.
