Hypertension increases risk of dying from COVID-19, study reveals – Explica

People with high blood pressure could have twice the risk of dying from COVID-19, in case of contracting the infection, according to a study published in the European Heart Journal.

This risk would be even higher in people who dont take medications to control the condition, suggested the study by researchers in China and Ireland.

For the research, the scientists analyzed data from two thousand 866 patients with COVID-19 who were admitted to Huo Shen Shan Hospital in Wuhan, China between February 5 and March 15, 2020. Of these, 850 had a medical history of high blood pressure.

With this, they found that 34 of 850 hypertensive patients with COVID-19 died compared to 22 out of 2,027 without elevated blood pressure, a 2.17-fold increased risk after adjusting for confounders.

In a meta-analysis, the researchers pooled data from Huo Shen Wan patients with those from nearly 2,300 in three other studies, with the aim of analyzing mortality rates in those who were treated with medications from the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system. (RAAS)

These medications include angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs).

They found a lower risk of death among 183 patients treated with RAAS inhibitors than in 527 patients treated with other medications. However, this result should be treated with caution since the number of patients in this analysis was small, they said.

It is important that patients with high blood pressure realize that they are at increased risk of dying from COVID-19. They must take good care of themselves during this pandemic and need more care if they are infected with the coronavirus, said Fei Li, one of the study authors.

With information from Notimex

June 7, 2020

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Hypertension increases risk of dying from COVID-19, study reveals - Explica