In a press release, the AP-HM (Marseille University Hospitals) spoke out, at the very beginning of the epidemic, on the link between Covid-19 and hypertension. Would France’s most common disease make it more likely to catch the coronavirus? Or would it lead to a greater risk of dying from it? At this stage, it was not possible to be categorical on all these questions. But the Uarterial hypertension nity – Vascular Medicine – Center of competence for rare vascular diseases and the Cardiology department of the Hospital de la Timone provide some answers in view of the first months of the epidemic.
No, antihypertensives do not increase the risk of Covid-19
In a study published in The Lancet, researchers at the University of Basel (Switzerland) hypothesized that certain treatments for hypertension, in particular converting enzyme inhibitors (based on perindpril) and angiotensin 2 inhibitors (candesartan, eprosartan, irbesartan, losartan, olmesartan, telmisartan, valsrtan), two types of drugs widely used by patients with high blood pressure, are believed to facilitate infection with Covid-19. By acting on a protein which is crucial in the regulation of blood pressure, they could have made the virus’ task in its formidable campaign of infection of the body easier.
Three studies published on May 1 in the New England Journal of Medicine, come to reassure patients. Based on the results obtained from thousands of alades infected with the coronavirus, the researchers found no correlation between taking anti-hypertensive drugs and infection. Besides the ACE inhibitors, scientists found no risk related to other classes of commonly used blood pressure medications: beta blockers, calcium channel blockers and thiazide diuretics.
A few days ago, teams coordinated by the cardiology department at Wuhan University in China had presented data capable of alleviating this anxiety as well. The researchers studied 1,128 hospitalized patients with hypertension who were diagnosed positive for Covid-19. Of these, 188 were taking the offending drugs, and 940 were not. The death rate in the first group was 3.7%, compared to 9.8% in the second.
A risk only in case of complicated hypertension
High blood pressure affects 14 million people in France. According to the recent opinion of the High Council of Public Health, patients who suffer from complicated high blood pressure are considered to be at risk for a severe form of coronavirus. “Complicated arterial hypertension is HA which has given rise to a heart attack, stroke or heart failure” explains Dr Gérard Helft, cardiologist at Pitié Salpetrière (Paris), interviewed in the show Allo Docteur. “People who suffer from uncomplicated high blood pressure, usually treated and controlled do not seem to be predisposed to infection with Covid-19,” he reassures.
You should not stop your treatment for hypertension
One thing is certain, whether you have high blood pressure or are in great shape: the instructions are the same, stay at home! However, the AP-HM doctors wished to inform that “arterial hypertension does not predispose to Covid-19”. Although higher mortality has been observed in people with this condition, it could be more due to “the older age of these patients“. Patients should not stop their treatment, unless there is a medical opinion to that effect.
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