ACE inhibitors angiotensin receptor blockers may improve prognosis in COVID-19 hypertensive patients, says Review
Rochester, MN – Patients with underlying health conditions such as hypertension, heart failure, and chronic kidney disease are at increased risk of severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Physicians, healthcare professionals, researchers, and patients are actively debating the potential influence of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) in patients during the COVID-19 outbreak. One of the ways the virus enters the body is through ACE2, the enzyme that converts angiotensin I to angiotensin II in the lungs and other tissues and organs, suggesting to some that the drugs may increase susceptibility to the virus and severity of the disease.
In a new review published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings, a group of scientists who have been working on the frontlines fighting the deadly virus in Spain, Italy, and the United States, dissect the controversy in considerable detail, to explain the level of evidence on this topic for clinicians. "In agreement with current guidelines, we recommend patients with hypertension should continue taking anti-hypertensive medications without interruption," says lead author Fabian Sanchis-Gomar, MD, PhD, of the Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Valencia and INCLIVA Biomedical Research Institute, Valencia, Spain; and Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.
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