Virus patients with high blood pressure twice as likely to die – study

PARIS, France – 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, June 5.

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. (READ: Blood pressure medicines don’t raise COVID-19 risk, says research)

“It is important that patients with high blood pressure realize 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% – 850 patients – had a history of hypertension, another term for high blood pressure.

4% of those patients died, compared with just over 1% 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 3 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. – Rappler.com