Before revision:  Here, we conduct a retrospective analysis of patients with acute respiratory distress or pneumonia ( n= 13,125 and n= 108,956, respectively)from all causes; patients who were incidentally taking \alpha-blockers had a reduced risk of requiring ventilation (by 35\% and 16\%, respectively), and a reduced risk of being ventilated and dying (by 56\% and 20\%, respectively), compared to non-users. Beta-adrenergic receptor antagonists had no significant effects .
After revision:  Here, we conduct a retrospective analysis of patients with acute respiratory distress or pneumonia ( n= 13,125 and n= 423,897). Federated across two ARD cohorts, our main result shows that patients using \alpha_1-AR antagonists, as compared to nonusers, had a 40\% relative risk reduction for ventilation and dying (p=0.014) .