Artist’s rendition of coronavirus
Recall that the coronavirus itself uses the ACE2 protein as an entry point into cells. One worry has been that the use of antihypertensive drugs [specifically angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers] might well cause ACE2 expression to increase, which seems as if it could be a bad idea, providing more targets for the virus to latch on to. But this survey of the literature found little evidence that these expression changes even happen. The animal data that show these effects, they report, tend to be via acute injury models or doses that are much higher than human patients encounter, and there seems to be no good evidence that it happens in humans. So that’s one thing to think about: a big part of the worry about antihypertension drugs may not be even be founded on a real problem.
We also have some clinical data: this preprint from a multicenter team in Wuhan retrospectively evaluates 43 patients with hypertension who were taking drugs in these two classes versus 83 hypertension patients who were not taking ACE inhibitors or ARBs, versus. 125 age- and gender-matched controls without hypertension at all. They also compared hospital admission statistics in general to patients’ medical histories. They first confirmed what others have found, that hypertension itself is a risk factor: the patients admitted for treatment had higher levels of hypertension than the general population, and once admitted those patients had higher death rates and longer hospital stays. But when they looked at the hypertension patients who were taking either ACE inhibitors or ARBs, their numbers were better. They had comparable blood pressure numbers to those taking other drugs, but they were a lower percent of critical patients (9.3% versus 22.9%, near miss on statistical significance) and had a lower death rate (4.7% versus 13.3%). The ACE/ARB cohort also had lower inflammation markers (c-reactive protein and calcitonin). So while the data are noisy, there may be a trend towards protection in those taking angiotensin-targeting drugs. All the more reason to heed the advice not to change therapies for people with hypertension.
Source: Angiotensin and Coronavirus Infection: The Latest as of April 7 | In the Pipeline
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