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‘Virus patients with high blood pressure more likely to die’

  • June 05, 2020

Patients with high blood pressure admitted to hospital with coronavirus infections are twice as likely to die as those without the condition, researchers said on Friday.

For in-patients with the virus who had stopped taking medication for
high blood pressure, the risk of dying doubled again, they reported in
the European Heart Journal.

“It is important that patients with high blood pressure realise that
they are at increased risk of dying from COVID-19,” said senior author
Fei Li, a cardiologist at Xijing Hospital in Xian, China. 

For the study, researchers in China and Ireland retroactively
examined cases admitted to Huoshenshan Hospital in Wuhan between
February 5 and March 15.

Nearly 30 percent — 850 patients — had a history of hypertension, another term for high blood pressure.

Four percent of those patients died, compared with just over one percent of the 2,027 patients without hypertension. 

After adjusting for age, sex and other medical conditions, the
researchers calculated that having high blood pressure increased the
risk of dying two-fold. 

In a separate meta-analysis of three other studies covering 2,300
COVID-19 patients from the same hospital, the researchers investigated
the impact of different blood pressure drugs on death rates.

Contrary to their expectations, they found that a class of drugs
known as RAAS inhibitors — which include angiotensin-converting enzyme
inhibitors (ACE) and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB) — were not
linked to higher COVID-19 mortality.

Indeed, the risk appeared to be somewhat diminished.

“We suggest that patients should not discontinue or change their
usual anti-hypertensive treatment unless instructed by a physician,”
said co-author Ling Tao, a professor at Xijing Hospital.

The authors noted that their study was observational and not based on
clinical trials, meaning further research was needed before they could
make firm clinical recommendations.

Article source: https://www.samaa.tv/living/health/2020/06/virus-patients-with-high-blood-pressure-more-likely-to-die/

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