Blood Pressure Drugs Don’t Increase COVID-19 Risks, Three Studies Show

Blood pressure medications do not increase the risk of contracting COVID-19 or of serious illness or death in COVID-19 patients as previously thought, three large observational studies showed.

The studies — from the NYU Langone Health System, Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and the University of Milano–Bicocca in Italy — looked primarily at the two most popular classes of blood pressure drugs, angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and angiotensin-receptor blockers (ARBS).

The NYU study, observing 12,594 COVID-19 patients, found no association between any single medication class and an increased likelihood of a positive test. In addition, the researchers found that none of the medications was associated with a substantial increase in the risk of severe illness among patients.

Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital looked at data on 8,910 hospitalized COVID-19 patients in 169 hospitals in Asia, Europe and North America and found no association between use of the two classes of blood-pressure drugs and dying from the virus. The researchers also found a possible benefit from the use of ACE inhibitors as well as statins.

Concerns about blood pressure medications emerged after data from China showed high rates of infection and death from COVID-19 among people with hypertension, as well as cardiovascular disease more broadly, and diabetes. Some medical experts had suggested ACE inhibitors and ARBS might play a role in the high morbidity rates. — Suz Redfearn