Three studies find that common blood pressure pills DO NOT worsen coronavirus

Common blood pressure medications don’t put people at increased risk for serious or fatal coronavirus symptoms, three major studies have found.

Doctors raised the alarm in March about a possible link between the drugs, known as ACE inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers (BRAs), and COVID-19.

Animal studies suggested that the pills change the shape of cells in a way that makes it easier for the coronavirus to infect them and cause more serious disease.

But the three new studies published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) have found that the drugs make “no difference” in the severity of the virus.

Some people with high blood pressure or type 1 or type 2 diabetes have to take medications, which increase the amount of ACE2 they have in their cells, to control their disease.

There are over 16 million people with these diseases in the UK, but they are not given to all patients, so the exact number of people taking the drugs is unclear.

The most prescribed versions of the drugs in England are Ramipril, Losartan, Lisinopril and Candesartan, according to NHS data.

Common drugs were prescribed almost 65 million times in England last year and cost the NHS more than £ 100 million.

They are administered to treat diabetes or high blood pressure, and it is estimated that around 10 per cent of people in the UK, about 6.6 million, take them regularly.

Each of the NEJM studies included reviewing the records of thousands of people who did or did not take the medications and see if they became infected and how the disease progressed.

Dr. Harmony Reynolds, a cardiologist at New York University, who led one of the studies involving about 12,600 people, said: “We saw no difference in the likelihood of a positive test with ACE inhibitors and angiotensin receptors. ”

The studies were ‘observational’, meaning the researchers looked at the effect of a risk factor.

This type of research is always considered weaker than “experimental”, where an intervention is introduced along with a control, leaving less chance.

The authors of an accompanying editorial in the NEJM recognized the limitation, but added: “We find it reassuring that three studies in different populations and with different designs reach the coherent message.”

Dr. Reynolds said the findings were relieving, because she had been receiving questions from concerned patients who had read press reports and asked if they should stop their medications.

“I am very happy to be able to tell patients that they should continue their blood pressure medications,” he said.

This is especially important given that blocking life itself appears to be causing high blood pressure, “perhaps from stress or less exercise or eating differently,” he added.

Mandeep Mehra, medical director of the Cardiac and Vascular Center at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) who led another study, said another fundamental question had been answered.

Mehra’s study, which looked at almost 9,000 patients in 11 countries, also linked blood pressure medication use to a lower risk of death from COVID-19, a finding not shared by the other two studies.

“The same drugs that appear to have life-saving benefits in patients with cardiovascular disease also seem to show a sign of benefit in patients who are suffering from COVID-19,” he said.

He added that it was not clear why this was the case, either because the drugs were helping the heart, which in turn made it more resistant to the effects of the virus, or if they were doing something else.

“What we can tell you is that if you are taking a statin or an ACE inhibitor, please continue,” added Mehra.