Blood pressure medicines are a common type of daily medication which are used by millions of people worldwide. But people taking these medicines were less likely to suffer from coronavirus related complications suggesting that these medicines may improve the survival rate of COVID-19.
The new research founds that these common medicines for high blood pressure reduce the risk of coronavirus related death. These people are at 33% less risk of coronavirus complications leading to death.
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But there are no clear details if the infected patients who aren’t using any such medicines were using any angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) to treat their symptoms. It also suggests new evidence that high blood pressure may be a high-risk factor for the deadly pandemic. However, it requires more research to find out the efficacy of these medicines.
Blood pressure medicines are very common in all parts of the world. Not only hypertensive patients but also heart patients use these medicines. The research team from the University of East Anglia was able to study data extracted from some older studies and investigated 28,872 patients who were admitted to the hospital reporting complications and severe symptoms of Covid-19.
Nearly 1/4th of them were regularly using ACE inhibitors or any ARBs, and approximately 1/3rd of them had high blood pressure.
The results revealed that hypertensive patients were less likely to die from coronavirus complications and this risk was calculated to be 33%. It means those who were taking ACE inhibitors were 33% less risk of being on a ventilator or end up in an ICU than the rest.
The medical experts say that these findings are kind of reliving for thousands of people who are taking these medicines and were scared of dying from COVID-19 related complications.
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On the other side, another fear still prevails that these ACE inhibitors may actually make the COVID-19 signs worst. They lower the blood pressure and boost the ACE2 receptors that are normally present on the outer walls of the body cells.
Typically, the coronavirus also uses these same ACE2 receptors to attach itself and enter into the cell. But using these medicines will reduce the chance of this virus multiplying in the body as they maintain healthy blood pressure and hold on inflammation.
At this stage, it can’t be said if blood pressure medicines should be given every day to save someone from the virus or save him from death conclusively but the evidence on their role in reducing the impact is highly significant.
The patients who were already using these medicines were at a larger benefit but there is limited information to suggest a COVID-19 patient with this hypertension medicine to save his life. This current study only highlights the potential of improving the survival rate of a COVID-19 patient.
While there are no as such side effects reported, the complete safety profile in non-hypertensive patients is not done which is why these medicines cant be made part of the regular treatment plan.
This study is published in the journal Current Atherosclerosis Reports.
