scholarly journals Association of outpatient ACE inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers and outcomes of acute respiratory illness: a retrospective cohort study

BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. e044010
Author(s):  
Molly Moore Jeffery ◽  
Nathan W Cummins ◽  
Timothy M Dempsey ◽  
Andrew H. Limper ◽  
Nilay D Shah ◽  
...  

ObjectivesEvaluate associations between ACE inhibitors (ACEis) and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) and clinical outcomes in acute viral respiratory illness (AVRI).DesignRetrospective cohort analysis of claims data.SettingThe USA; 2018–2019 influenza season.ParticipantsMain cohort: people with hypertension (HTN) taking an ACEi, ARB or other HTN medications, and experiencing AVRI. Falsification cohort: parallel cohort receiving elective knee or hip replacement.Main outcome measuresMain cohort: hospital admission, intensive care unit, acute respiratory distress (ARD), ARD syndrome and all-cause mortality. Falsification cohort: complications after surgery and all-cause mortality.ResultsThe main cohort included 236 843 episodes of AVRI contributed by 202 629 unique individuals. Most episodes were in women (58.9%), 81.4% in people with Medicare Advantage and 40.3% in people aged 75+ years. Odds of mortality were lower in the ACEi (0.78 (0.74 to 0.83)) and ARB (0.64 (0.61 to 0.68)) cohorts compared with other HTN medications. On all other outcomes, people taking ARBs (but not ACEis) had a >10% reduction in odds of inpatient stays compared with other HTN medications.In the falsification analysis (N=103 353), both ACEis (0.89 (0.80 to 0.98)) and ARBs (0.82 (0.74 to 0.91)) were associated with decreased odds of complications compared with other HTN medications; ARBs (0.64 (0.47 to 0.87)) but not ACEis (0.79 (0.60 to 1.05)) were associated with lower odds of death compared with other HTN medications.ConclusionsOutpatient use of ARBs was associated with better outcomes with AVRI compared with other medications for HTN. ACEis were associated with reduced risk of death, but with minimal or no reduction in risk of other complications. A falsification analysis conducted to provide context on the possible causal implications of these findings did not provide a clear answer. Further analysis using observational data will benefit from additional approaches to assess causal relationships between these drugs and outcomes in AVRI.

2005 ◽  
Vol 6 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. S8-S11
Author(s):  
Hans-Christoph Diener

Hypertension is the most important modifiable risk factor for primary and secondary stroke prevention. All antihypertensive drugs are effective in primary prevention: the risk reduction for stroke is 30—42%. However, not all classes of drugs have the same effects: there is some indication that angiotensin receptor blockers may be superior to other classes of antihypertensive drugs in stroke prevention. Seventy-five percent of patients who present to hospital with acute stroke have elevated blood pressure within the first 24—48 hours. Extremes of systolic blood pressure (SBP) increase the risk of death or dependency. The aim of treatment should be to achieve and maintain the SBP in the range 140—160 mmHg. However, fast and drastic blood pressure lowering can have adverse consequences. The PROGRESS trial of secondary prevention with perindopril + indapamide versus placebo + placebo showed a decrease in numbers of stroke recurrences in patients given both active antihypertensive agents, more impressive for cerebral haemorrhage.There were also indications that active treatment might decrease the development of post-stroke dementia.


2021 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
pp. 275-276
Author(s):  
Kanwal Ashiq ◽  
Sana Ashiq

Dear Editor, In December 2019, a new virus which is known as SARS-COV-2 (COVID-19) was identified. In a short period, this virus spread rapidly and caused significant morbidities and mortalities across the earth. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a pandemic due to the logarithmic expansion of COVID-19 cases globally.1 Various guidelines were issued, and a complete lockdown has been observed on a large scale to stop the spread of the virus. Currently, there is no specific treatment for COVID-19 is available. Throughout the year 2020, scientists struggled a lot to find the COVID-19 cure, and many vaccines are successfully developed which would be helpful in the prevention of disease. Nevertheless, the emergence of virus variants remains an issue. The epidemiological trends and clinical features of this disease have been reported in several publications.2 Due to comorbidities, COVID-19 disease can exacerbate and may result in increased severity and deadly consequences. In a study, the most common comorbidities in COVID-19 patients were reported as following; diabetes (19%), hypertension (30%), and coronary heart disease (8%). In hypertension, blood pressure elevates from the threshold level. The occurrence of hypertension is not necessarily to be associated with COVID-19 as hypertension is quite frequent in geriatric patients, and these patients are at higher risk of being infected with COVID-19.3,4 Angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) and angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors are widely prescribed for the cure of hypertension and other cardiovascular-related diseases. On the other hand, the COVID-19 virus binds with ACE2 to gain entry into the lung cells. ACE inhibitors and ARBs escalate ACE2 that could hypothetically increase the chance of COVID-19 binding to lung cells and could headway to more damage. Conversely, in experimental studies, ACE2 showed a protective effect against lung injury. Due to the anti-inflammatory potential of ACE inhibitors and ARBs, these agents can reduce the incidence of developing myocarditis and acute respiratory distress syndrome in COVID-19 patients. There is no evidence that hypertension is linked with the COVID-19 and anti-hypertensive medicines (ACE inhibitors and ARBs) are either harmful or beneficial during the COVID-19 pandemic.5 During this unprecedented situation, the Council on Hypertension of the European Society of Cardiology released a statement that “The Council on Hypertension strongly recommends that physicians and patients should continue treatment with their usual anti-hypertensive therapy because there is no clinical or scientific evidence to suggest that treatment with ACEIs or ARBs should be discontinued because of the COVID-19 infection.” After this announcement, many other societies also recommend that patients should continue using their current hypertensive therapy and if necessary, after careful assessment, changes can be made in the hypertensive regimen.6 According to estimation, globally, 1.5 billion people can suffer from hypertension by 2025 which may contribute approximately 75% of stroke risk and 50% of heart disease risk. CVDs accounts almost 38% of deaths related to the non-communicated disease (NCDs). In Pakistan, hypertension is a chief health concern that leads to significant morbidity and mortality. Blood pressure can be control with medications and lifestyle modifications. One of the best approaches to control and improve blood pressure is team-based care consisting of doctors, pharmacists, and nurses. During COVID-19, collaborative efforts are required to improve patient’s quality of life and to reduce the healthcare burden.7,8 Keywords: COVID-19, Hypertension, Pandemic, ACE inhibitors References Ashiq K, Bajwa MA, Ashiq S. COVID-19 Pandemic and its Impact on Pharmacy Education. Turkish J Pharma Sci. 2021;18(2):122. Ashiq K, Ashiq S, Bajwa MA, Tanveer S, Qayyum M. Knowledge, attitude and practices among the inhabitants of Lahore, Pakistan towards the COVID-19 pandemic: an immediate online based cross-sectional survey while people are under the lockdown. Bangladesh J Med Sci. 2020:69-S 76. Zhou F, Yu T, Du R, Fan G, Liu Y, Liu Z, et al. Clinical course and risk factors for mortality of adult inpatients with COVID-19 in Wuhan, China: a retrospective cohort study. Lancet. 2020;395(10229):1054-62. Ashiq S, Ashiq K. The Role of Paraoxonase 1 (PON1) Gene Polymorphisms in Coronary Artery Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Biochem Genet. 2021:1-21. Schiffrin EL, Flack JM, Ito S, Muntner P, Webb RC. Hypertension and COVID-19. Am J Hypertens. 2020;33(5):373–374. Patel AB, Verma A. COVID-19 and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers: what is the evidence? JAMA. 2020;323(18):1769-70. Riaz M, Shah G, Asif M, Shah A, Adhikari K, Abu-Shaheen A. Factors associated with hypertension in Pakistan: A systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS One. 2021;16(1):e0246085. Zarei L, Karimzadeh I, Moradi N, Peymani P, Asadi S, Babar Z-U-D. Affordability assessment from a static to dynamic concept: a scenario-based assessment of cardiovascular medicines. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020;17(5):1710.


Circulation ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (Suppl_3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Prabhjot Grewal ◽  
Jeanwoo Yoo ◽  
Aikaterini Papamanoli ◽  
Azad Mojahedi ◽  
Simrat Dhaliwal ◽  
...  

Introduction: Angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) 2, is a co-receptor for the entry of SARS-CoV-2 into target cells. The impact of ACE inhibitors (ACEIs) and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) on outcomes in patients with coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) is under investigation. Hypothesis: ACEIs/ARBs are associated with worse outcomes in patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Methods: We evaluated the in-hospital course of 469 adults admitted to Stony Brook University Hospital, NY, from March 1 to April 15, 2020 with severe COVID-19 pneumonia (need for high-flow O2). We excluded patients who required mechanical ventilation (MV) or died within 24h of admission. We used Cox regression models to examine the association of previous (home) use of ACEIs or ARBs with mortality and the composite of death or MV. Results: Table 1 summarizes the patient characteristics according to ACEI/ARB use (ACEI: 73; ARB: 73; 146/469 patients, 31.1%). After a median of 13 days (8-22), 123 patients (26.2%) died and 105 patients (22.4%) required MV and survived. In models adjusting for age, sex, race, body mass index, hypertension, diabetes, coronary artery disease, heart failure, atrial fibrillation, chronic lung disease, chronic kidney disease, and baseline 0 2 saturation, ACEIs/ARBs were not associated with mortality (HR 1.00; 95%CI 0.62-1.61; P=0.99). There was no difference between classes in mortality (ACEI vs. ARB: HR 1.14; 95%CI 0.61-2.15; P=0.68). However, there was a trend towards lower rates of death or MV with ACEI/ARB (HR 0.75; 95%CI 0.54-1.05; P=0.095), mainly because of lower MV rates. The protective effect of ARBs on the composite was significant (HR 0.66; 95%CI 0.44-0.99; P=0.046) whereas that of ACEIs was not (HR 0.87; 95%CI 0.57-1.31; P=0.50), albeit difference was not significant (P=0.28). Conclusions: In patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia, ACEI/ARB use was not associated with mortality. Especially ARBs may reduce need for MV in this high-risk COVID-19 population.


Circulation ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (Suppl_3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Inagaki YUSUKE ◽  
Kentaro Jujo ◽  
Hiroyuki Tanaka ◽  
Toshiaki Oka ◽  
KAZUHO KAMISHIMA ◽  
...  

Background: The prescription of inhibitors for renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) is associated with improved prognosis but have respectively different mechanisms of action in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). We aimed to compare the clinical outcomes between angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEi) and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB) therapy in patients with CAD undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Methods: This study is a subanalysis from the TWINCRE registry that is a multicentral prospective cohort including patients who underwent PCI. After excluding 18 patients who received both ACEi and ARB from 2,896 registered patients, we ultimately evaluated 369 patients treated with ACEi, 492 with ARB and 541 without ACEi or ARB. The primary endpoint was a major adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events (MACCE) including death from any cause, acute coronary syndrome, stent thrombosis, stroke and hospitalization for heart failure. The impact of RAAS inhibitors on all-cause mortality alone was also evaluated. Results: During the observation period with 366 days of a median follow-up, Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed that the ARB group had the lowest rate of MACCE than other two groups (Log-rank for trend, p&lt; for < 0.0001, Figure). Regarding all-cause mortality, the ARB group and ACEi group had comparable rates for MACCE, which were lower than the no-ACEi/ARB group (p&lt; for < 0.0001). In a Cox regression analysis, after adjusting with age, gender, comorbidities, multivessel disease, acute myocardial infarction, and medications at discharge including dual antiplatelet therapy and statins, ARB therapy was still had a superiority to ACEi therapy regarding with MACCE (hazard ratio: 0.54, 95% confidence interval: 0.30-0.98). Conclusion: In the multicenter cohort study, ARB therapy was associated with better one-year clinical outcomes compared to ACEi therapy in patients undergoing PCI.


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