Changes in antihypertensive treatment in surviving patients SARS-CoV-2 respiratory infection and its cardiovascular impact after one year of follow-up
Authors: Aguila Gordo D , Martinez Del Rio J , Piqueras Flores J , Negreira Caamano M , Mateo Gomez C , Soto Perez M , Salas Bravo D , Arizon Munoz JM , Cubides Novoa AF , Munoz Garcia M , Blanco Lopez E , Soto Martin P , Moron Alguacil A 
Published: May 2022

Funding Acknowledgements

Type of funding sources: None.

Introduction

The management of antihypertensive drugs and especially ACEI/ARA2 during the first wave of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic was a matter of debate. The change in antihypertensive treatment during the pandemic and its repercussions have not been sufficiently studied.

Methods

Observational and prospective study that analyzed consecutive patients admitted for respiratory infection and positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) between March 1 and April 30, 2020. During the period analyzed, 921 patients were registered, of whom 673 patients were discharged; among them 359 were patients with a diagnosis of arterial hypertension and pharmacological treatment. These patients were followed up in days, from the time of discharge to data analysis, with a mean of 352±70.4 days.

Results

The mean age was 74.4±12.9 years, and 50.7% were male. A total of 28.7% were diabetic patients, 49% were dyslipidemic, 17.8% were smokers, and 19.8% were obese. Of the patients analyzed, 13.4% had a previous diagnosis of ischemic heart disease, a similar percentage, 13.1% had heart failure, and 13.6% had atrial fibrillation. The antihypertensive drugs analyzed were ACE inhibitors (angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors), ARA-2 (angiotensin II receptor antagonists), calcium antagonists, thiazide diuretics, loop diuretics, aldosterone antagonists, beta-blockers and alpha-blockers. At discharge, 75.8% of the patients maintained their antihypertensive treatment, and the remaining 24.2% were modified. Prior to admission, 77.2% were taking ACE inhibitors or ARA-2; however, in 16.4% of the patients they were discontinued after admission. In contrast, treatment with calcium antagonists increased from 27.6% to 34.1% after hospitalization. In both cases there were statistically significant differences in the bivariate analysis in the McNemar test (p &lt; 0.05 in both cases), with no differences in the other antihypertensive drugs analyzed.

After follow-up, the combined event occurred in 28 patients, with the most frequent event being the development of HF; in contrast, only 0.8% presented ACS. Overall mortality was 8.9%. Picture 1 shows the events recorded according to the change in antihypertensive treatment and the maintenance or discontinuation of ACEI/ARA-2 in those patients who were already taking it on admission. Similarly, a survival analysis was performed in which no differences were observed in terms of all-cause mortality or major cardiovascular events between patients who maintained their antihypertensive treatment and those who modified it.

Conclusions

In the population surviving SARS-CoV-2 respiratory infection, maintaining or discontinuing treatment with ACEI/ARA-2 did not influence mortality or the appearance of major cardiovascular events after the first year of follow-up.