Antihypertensive & COVID-19: The Verdict of Review and Meta-Analysis

[updated May 18] What biochemistry facts and clinical outcomes really say.

[Modified and Redesigned] Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay

Prior studies and meta-analyses have shown that medical comorbidities — like diabetes, hypertension, cardiac and pulmonary diseases — increase the risk of disease progression and mortality from COVID-19.

Antihypertensive and COVID-19

A recent academic review — written by Awadhesh Kumar Singh, MD, a senior consultant endocrinologist at G.D. Hospital & Diabetes Institute in India, and his colleagues — further probed the relationship between hypertension and COVID-19.

Specifically, they wanted to resolve the controversies about the use of renin-angiotensin system blockers (RASB; an anti-hypertensive) making COVID-19 symptoms worse. There’re two types of RASB — angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEis) and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs).

“There has been a growing concern that this association with hypertension and/or cardiovascular diseases may be confounded by the treatment with certain antihypertensive medications such as RASB,” Dr. Singh remarked.

There’s evidence that the use of RASB antihypertensive raises the levels of ACE-2 receptors, especially…