[ad_1]
Blood pressure medications do not increase the risk of COVID-19 infection or increase the risk of becoming seriously ill with the disease, three major studies said on Friday, positive news for the millions of people taking them.
Follow the latest updates on the COVID-19 pandemic here
The research focused primarily on angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers (BRAs), which are also administered to patients with diabetes to help protect their kidneys.
ACE inhibitors include likes of ramipril, lisinopril, and other drugs that end in -pril; while ARBs include valsartan and losartan, and generally end in -sartan.
Concerns arose in animal studies that these drugs could increase body levels of a protein called ACE2, to which the coronavirus binds when it invades human cells, increasing people’s vulnerability to the disease.
Even more confusing, there were also conflicting animal studies showing that having more ACE2 proteins could lessen an inflammatory reaction in the lungs to COVID-19, a beneficial effect.
The three new studies were published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).
Each included reviewing the records of thousands of coronavirus patients with or without medications, and then using statistical methods to control for other factors such as underlying health conditions that could make people more susceptible to severe COVID-19.
“We saw no difference in the likelihood of a positive test with ACE inhibitors, with angiotensin receptor blockers,” Harmony Reynolds of New York University Grossman School of Medicine, told AFP, who led one of studies involving about 12,600 people.
The studies were “observational,” meaning that 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 to chance.
The authors of an accompanying editorial in the NEJM recognized this inherent weakness, but added: “We find it reassuring that three studies in different populations and with different designs reach the coherent message.”
Reynolds said the findings were relieving, because she had received 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 confinement life itself appears to be causing high blood pressure, “perhaps due to stress or less exercise or eating differently,” he added.
One of the NEJM studies, led by Mandeep Mehra and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, found that the drugs were potentially linked to a lower risk of death from COVID-19.
But the magazine editorial warned that this was not supported by others and may be due to chance.
According to official figures, almost half of adults in the United States, or 108 million people, have hypertension.
