The effects of renin–angiotensin system inhibitors (RASI) in coronavirus disease (COVID-19) with hypertension: A retrospective, single-center trial

Cui, Haiming; Wu, Feng; Fan, Zhenyu; Cheng, Xin; Cheng, Jilin; Fan, Min

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE: A recent outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) occurs in the worldwide. Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) can mediate coronavirus entry into host cells. Therefore, renin–angiotensin system inhibitors (RASI) were suspected of contributing to the increase of coronavirus infection. We aimed to analyze the effects of RASI in COVID-19 patients with hypertension. PATIENTS AND METHOD: In this retrospective, single-center study, 27 COVID-19 patients with hypertension, who were admitted to the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center from January 25, 2020 to January 31, 2020, were analyzed for clinical features, laboratory parameters, medications and the length of stay. All the patients were given antiviral and antihypertension treatment, of which 14 patients were treated with RASI and 13 patients without RASI. RESULTS: Comparing the two groups, we did not found statistically significant differences in clinical symptoms and laboratory tests. Furthermore, cough was not aggravated. CONCLUSIONS: Through the analysis of this small sample, RASI could be deemed safe and effective to control high blood pressure of COVID-19 patients. Further analysis with a larger sampling size is required to explore the underlying mechanisms.