MONDAY, Aug. 24, 2020 (HealthDay News) — Renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) inhibitors are beneficial for hypertensive patients with COVID-19, according to a study published online Aug. 24 in Current Atherosclerosis Reports.
Ranu Baral, from Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital in the United Kingdom, and colleagues examined the impact of RAAS inhibitors on hypertensive patients with COVID-19. Data were included for 28,872 patients.
The researchers observed a trend to lower risk for death/critical events with use of any RAAS inhibition for any condition (odds ratio [OR], 0.671; 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.435 to 1.034; P = 0.071). Among patients with hypertension, a significantly lower risk was seen for deaths (OR, 0.664; 95 percent CI, 0.458 to 0.964; P = 0.031) or the combination of death/critical outcomes (OR, 0.670; 95 percent CI, 0.495 to 0.908; P = 0.010). No significant association of death/critical outcomes was seen for angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor use versus non-angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor use (OR, 1.008; 95 percent CI, 0.822 to 1.235; P = 0.941) or for angiotensin receptor blocker versus non-angiotensin receptor blocker use (OR, 0.946; 95 percent CI, 0.735 to 1.218; P = 0.668).
“The really important thing that we showed was that there is no evidence that these medications might increase the severity of COVID-19 or risk of death,” a coauthor said in a statement. “On the contrary, we found that there was a significantly lower risk of death and critical outcomes, so they might in fact have a protective role — particularly in patients with hypertension.”
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