Common blood pressure drugs don’t increase Covid-19 risk: studies

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Commonly used blood pressure medicines do not heighten susceptibility to Covid-19 infection, or increase the risk of becoming seriously ill with the disease, three major studies have found. Image: laflor / iStock via AFP Relaxnews

(AFP RelaxNews) — Commonly used blood pressure medicines do not heighten susceptibility to Covid-19 infection, or increase the risk of becoming seriously ill with the disease, three major studies said Friday, positive news for the millions of people who take them.

The research primarily concerned angiotensin-converting-enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and angiotensin-receptor blockers (ARBs), which are also given to diabetes patients to help protect their kidneys.

ACE inhibitors include the likes of ramipril, lisinopril and other drugs ending in -pril; while ARBs include valsartan and losartan, and generally end in -sartan.

There had been concern arising from animal studies that these medicines might increase the body’s levels of a protein called ACE2, which the coronavirus latches on to when it invades human cells, thus increasing people’s vulnerability to the disease. (…)

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