Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients with cardiovascular and metabolic disorders have been found to have a high risk of developing severe conditions with high mortality, further affecting the prognosis of COVID-19. However, the effect of hypertension and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI) and angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) agents on the clinical characteristics and inflammatory immune responses in COVID-19 patients is still undefined. In this study, 90 COVID-19 patients were divided into hypertension and nonhypertension groups. The hypertension group was divided into well-controlled and poorly controlled subgroups based on blood pressure levels; moreover, hypertensive patients were also divided into ACEI/ARB and non-ACEI/ARB subgroups according to the administration of ACEI/ARB antihypertensive agents. The clinical characteristics of and inflammatory immune biomarker levels in the different groups of COVID-19 patients were compared, and the association between the combined effect of hypertension with ACEI/ARB antihypertensive agents and the severity of COVID-19 was examined. The results showed that the levels of aminotransferase (AST) and hs-cTnI were higher in the hypertension group compared with the nonhypertension group. The long-term use of ACEI/ARB agents in patients had statistically significantly lower AST, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and oxygen uptake and lower white cell count, neutrophil count, and levels of CD4, CD8, CRP, and PCT but without statistical significance. In addition, compared with COVID-19 patients without hypertension, hypertensive patients without the use of ACEI/ARB had a higher risk of developing severity of COVID-19 (for poorly controlled patients: OR = 3.97, 95% CI = 1.03–15.30; for well-controlled patients: OR = 6.48, 95% CI = 1.77–23.81). Hypertension could cause organ damage in COVID-19 patients, but the long-term use of ACEI/ARB agents may be beneficial to alleviate this injury.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, hypertension, myocardial injury, inflammatory immune responses, RAAS blockers, 【초록키워드】 Biomarker, Prognosis, Clinical characteristics, CRP, CD4, CD8, immune, ARB, severity of COVID-19, Patient, AST, LDL-C, group, disease, COVID-19 patients, association, ACEi, angiotensin receptor blocker, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor, administration, Inflammatory, blood pressure, Injury, COVID-19 patient, high risk, white cell, subgroup, Low-Density Lipoprotein cholesterol, higher risk, 95% CI, statistical significance, neutrophil count, high mortality, organ damage, metabolic disorder, significantly lower, inflammatory immune response, PCT, oxygen uptake, examined, addition, condition, groups, affecting, alleviate, statistically, antihypertensive agent, hypertensive patient, with COVID-19, 【제목키워드】 clinical, response,