The study included 2,900 patients admitted to Wuhan, China-based Huo Shen Shan Hospital during February and March. It showed that COVID-19 patients taking medicine to manage their blood pressure experienced a significantly lower risk of death than patients with hypertension who were not taking medication.
The researchers also pooled prior research to discover that ACE inhibitors and ARBs, specific classes of blood pressure drugs, may be associated with a lower risk of death from COVID-19.
Their evidence comes from observational studies, not randomized trials, but the researchers argue that patients should not chaInge their antihypertensive treatment unless their physician explicitly tells them.
COVID-19 patients have been encouraged to keep taking their prescribed hypertension drugs by the American College of Cardiology, American Heart Association and Heart Failure Society of America, according to CNBC.
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