Is There a High Blood Pressure and Coronavirus Link?

Web MD ^ | March 21, 2020 | Web MD

[tired&retired]

Ralph Baric, PhD, perked up when he saw that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 illness, enters the lungs through ACE2 receptors, and that people with hypertension have worse outcomes than those with any other underlying condition.

"I've thought it needed to be explored in more detail for quite a while," said Baric, a professor of epidemiology, microbiology, and immunology at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, who has been studying coronavirus outbreaks for decades.

Researchers and doctors are trying to determine whether the spike in serious COVID-19 illness in those with baseline hypertension is a coincidence of age and general ill health, or if it speaks to the role ACE2 receptors play in both hypertension and COVID-19 infection. And if there is an association, they want to know whether ACE inhibitors help or hurt people at highest risk for severe COVID-19 disease.

During the same session, Zunyou Wu, MD, PhD, chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, presented data showing that more than 40% of people with severe infection had baseline hypertension.

Reinin–angiotensin–aldosterone system inhibitors, which include ACE inhibitors, cause an increase in the expression of ACE2 receptors, according to a recent comment in Nature Reviews Cardiology.

"The safety and potential effects of antihypertension therapy with ACE inhibitors or angiotensin-receptor blockers in patients with COVID-19 should be carefully considered," write the Chinese researchers.

If there is an association between ACE inhibitors and the virus, "we might be able to reduce the risk of fatal COVID-19 courses in many patients by temporarily replacing these drugs," they write.

"There is probably some direct relationship to the level of ACE2 expression and disease severity," he said. "And it probably plays some role in the age-related" severity trends we've seen in COVID-19.

[Wuli]

“actually i put quite a bit of thought into which blood pressure medications i prescribe but thank you”

My “heart doctors” guessed, and guessed wrong over six months before I finally - my hypertension was finally - satisfied with what drugs we settled on. I knew before hand that (1) they are not gods, (2) there is a much art as science to medicine, (3) our body systems are based on the same template but the genes and their expressions make each one of us an individual, including what is individually best for us from medicine.

[WaltStuart]

1 CUP BRAGG’S APPLE CIDER VINEGAR
1 CUP GARLIC PUREE
1 CUP GINGER PUREE
1 CUP LEMON JUICE

SIMMER 4 30 MIN STIRRING

LET MOSTLY COOL

AD 2-3 CUPS RAW ORGANIC HONEY

STORE IN FRIDGE IN CLEAN QUART MASON JARS WITH LIDS WORKS FOR ME. I MADE 5 QUARTS LAST TIME. ORIGINAL MEASURES DON’T MATTER AS LONG AS THEY ARE EQUAL.

PURPORTEDLY HELPS CLEAN BLOOD VESSELS & LOWER BP. SEEMS TO HELP ME. TRYING TO GEAR UP TO 2 TBLSPOONS TWICE A DAY. DONE ONCE A DAY FOR MONTHS.

[tired&retired]

The biochemistry of each human being is somewhat unique.