![\"News](\"https:\/\/media.healthday.com\/Images\/icimages\/40066.jpg\"\/)
By E.J. Mundell<\/b>
HealthDay Reporter<\/i><\/p>\n
MONDAY, Aug. 24, 2020 (HealthDay News)<\/p>\n
In the largest such study yet, researchers have found that two classes of common blood pressure<\/a> medications seem tied to better survival against COVID-19<\/a>.<\/p>\n The U.K. findings should allay any worry that the two types of mediations — angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACE inhibitors<\/a>) or angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs<\/a>) — might actually harm COVID-19<\/a> patients.<\/p>\n “We know that patients with cardiovascular diseases are at particular risk of severe COVID-19<\/a> infection,” noted lead researcher Dr. Vassilios Vassiliou. “But at the start of the pandemic, there was concern that specific medications for high blood pressure<\/a> could be linked with worse outcomes for COVID-19<\/a> patients,” he said.<\/p>\n Instead, the researchers found that the drugs<\/a> weren’t harmful but rather lowered the risk of death and critical outcomes by about one-third.<\/p>\n “COVID-19<\/a> patients with high blood pressure<\/a> who were taking ACEi\/ARB medications were 0.67 times less likely to have a critical or fatal outcome than those not taking these medications,” said Vassiliou, of the Norwich Medical School at the University of East Anglia, in the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n “Our research provides substantial evidence to recommend continued use of these medications if the patients were taking them already,” he said in a university news release.<\/p>\n The findings were based on a major review of data from 19 previously published studies. Those studies included more than 28,000 patients — the largest such study on the subject to date.<\/p>\n Vassiliou said his team focused on “outcomes for patients taking antihypertensives — looking particularly at what we call ‘critical’ outcomes, such as being admitted to intensive care or being put on a ventilator, and death.”<\/p>\n ACE inhibitors<\/a> or ARBs<\/a> were found to be very common medications.<\/p>\n “We found that a third of COVID-19<\/a> patients with high blood pressure<\/a> and a quarter of patients overall were taking an ACEi\/ARB. This is likely due to the increasing risk of infection in patients with [pre-existing illnesses] such as cardiovascular diseases, hypertension<\/a> and diabetes<\/a>,” Vassiliou noted.<\/p>\n “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,” he said, and they might even improve outcomes.<\/p>\n Vassiliou stressed, however, that the findings do not mean the blood pressure<\/a> meds should be used as a treatment for COVID-19 patients who aren’t already taking them. “The mechanism of action might be different” in that context, he said.<\/p>\n One U.S. expert called the study findings “reassuring” for patients who rely on these medications.<\/p>\n “It is comforting to know that these medications have a neutral effect on the severity of COVID infection,” said Dr. Guy Mintz, who directs cardiovascular health at Northwell Health’s Sandra Atlas Bass Heart<\/a> Hospital in Manhasset, N.Y.<\/p>\n It’s unclear why taking an ACE inhibitor or an ARB might curb COVID-19, he said.<\/p>\n The drugs<\/a> have anti-inflammatory effects “in addition to their blood pressure benefits. Could these effects neutralize some of the systemic inflammation due to COVID-19?” Mintz said. More study is needed, he believes.<\/p>\n In the meantime, Mintz said, “the take-home message here is if you develop COVID-19 infection, do not stop your ARB or ACE inhibitor. They are effective antihypertensive agents and have no deleterious effects in the setting of infection, and maybe afford patients a level of protection.”<\/p>\n The report was published Aug. 24 in the journal Current Atherosclerosis<\/a> Reports<\/i>.<\/p>\n![\"MedicalNews\"](\"https:\/\/images.medicinenet.com\/images\/HealthDay\/healthday.png\")
Copyright \u00a9 2020 HealthDay. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/images.medicinenet.com\/images\/quiz\/brain\/brain-s1-human-brain-weigh.jpg\"\/)