2020 in a nutshell: The hottest developments in the field of cardiology this year. Section 1. General and preventive cardiology

The trial enrolled 659 patients from 29 sites in Brazil. All participants were chronically using an ACE inhibitor or ARB and were hospitalised with COVID-19. Patients were randomly allocated to stopping the ACE inhibitor/ARB for 30 days or continuing the ACE inhibitor/ARB.

The BRACE CORONA Trial concluded that with patients hospitalized with COVID-19, suspending ACE inhibitors and ARBs for 30 days did not impact the number of days alive and out of hospital, so they should generally be continued for those with an indication.

"This is the first randomised data assessing the role of continuing versus stopping ACE inhibitors and ARBs in patients with COVID-19," said principal investigator Professor Renato Lopes of Duke Clinical Research Institute, Durham, US. "In patients hospitalised with COVID-19, suspending ACE inhibitors and ARBs for 30 days did not impact the number of days alive and out of hospital."

He concluded: "Because these data indicate that there is no clinical benefit from routinely interrupting these medications in hospitalised patients with mild to moderate COVID-19, they should generally be continued for those with an indication."

Source: European heart journal: Cardiovascular Research, Volume 116, Issue 14, 1 December 2020, Pages e198–e199, https://doi.org/10.1093/cvr/cvaa325

NEXT