Abstract

Rationale: Use of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) and angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs) is a major concern for clinicians treating coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in patients with hypertension. Objective: To determine the association between in-hospital use of ACEI/ARB and all-cause mortality in COVID-19 patients with hypertension. Methods and Results: This retrospective, multi-center study included 1128 adult patients with hypertension diagnosed with COVID-19, including 188 taking ACEI/ARB (ACEI/ARB group; median age 64 [IQR 55-68] years; 53.2% men) and 940 without using ACEI/ARB (non-ACEI/ARB group; median age 64 [IQR 57-69]; 53.5% men), who were admitted to nine hospitals in Hubei Province, China from December 31, 2019 to February 20, 2020. Unadjusted mortality rate was lower in the ACEI/ARB group versus the non-ACEI/ARB group (3.7% vs. 9.8%; P = 0.01). In mixed-effect Cox model treating site as a random effect, after adjusting for age, gender, comorbidities, and in-hospital medications, the detected risk for all-cause mortality was lower in the ACEI/ARB group versus the non-ACEI/ARB group (adjusted HR, 0.42; 95% CI, 0.19-0.92; P =0.03). In a propensity score-matched analysis followed by adjusting imbalanced variables in mixed-effect Cox model, the results consistently demonstrated lower risk of COVID-19 mortality in patients who received ACEI/ARB versus those who did not receive ACEI/ARB (adjusted HR, 0.37; 95% CI, 0.15-0.89; P = 0.03). Further subgroup propensity score-matched analysis indicated that, compared to use of other antihypertensive drugs, ACEI/ARB was also associated with decreased mortality (adjusted HR, 0.30; 95%CI, 0.12-0.70; P = 0.01) in COVID-19 patients with hypertension. Conclusions: Among hospitalized COVID-19 patients with hypertension, inpatient use of ACEI/ARB was associated with lower risk of all-cause mortality compared with ACEI/ARB non-users. While study interpretation needs to consider the potential for residual confounders, it is unlikely that in-hospital use of ACEI/ARB was associated with an increased mortality risk.

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Zhang, P., Zhu, L., Cai, J., Lei, F., Qin, J., Xie, J., Liu, Y., Zhao, Y., Huang, X., Lin, L., Xia, M., Chen, M., Cheng, X., Zhang, X., Guo, D., Peng, Y., Ji, Y., Chen, J., She, Z., Wang, Y., Xu, Q., Tan, R., Wang, H., Lin, J., Luo, P., Fu, S., Cai, H., Ye, P., Xiao, B., Mao, W., Liu, L., Yan, Y., Liu, M., Chen, M., Zhang, X., Wang, X., Touyz, R., Xia, J., Zhang, B., Huang, X., Yuan, Y., Rohit, L., Liu, P. & Li, H. 2020, 'Association of inpatient use of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin II receptor blockers with mortality among patients with hypertension hospitalized with COVID-19', Circulation Research, 126(12), pp. 1671-1681. http://dx.doi.org/10.1161/circresaha.120.317134

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Last updated: 16 September 2022
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