Project description:BackgroundCOVID-19 is caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which uses angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE-2) as a receptor for cellular entry. It is theorized that ACE inhibitors (ACE-Is) or angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) may increase vulnerability to SARS-CoV-2 by upregulating ACE-2 expression, but ACE-I/ARB discontinuation is associated with clinical deterioration.ObjectiveTo determine whether ACE-I and ARB use is associated with acute kidney injury (AKI), macrovascular thrombosis and in-hospital mortality.MethodsA retrospective, single-centre study of 558 hospital inpatients with confirmed COVID-19 admitted from 1 March to 30 April 2020, followed up until 24 May 2020. AKI and macrovascular thrombosis were primary end-points, and in-hospital mortality was a secondary end-point.ResultsAKI occurred in 126 (23.1%) patients, 34 (6.1%) developed macrovascular thrombi, and 200 (35.9%) died. Overlap propensity score-weighted analysis showed no significant effect of ACE-I/ARB use on the risk of occurrence of the specified end-points. On exploratory analysis, severe chronic kidney disease (CKD) increases odds of macrovascular thrombi (OR: 8.237, 95% CI: 1.689-40.181, P = 0.009). The risk of AKI increased with advancing age (OR: 1.028, 95% CI: 1.011-1.044, P = 0.001) and diabetes (OR: 1.675, 95% CI: 1.065-2.633, P = 0.025). Immunosuppression was associated with lower risk of AKI (OR: 0.160, 95% CI: 0.029-0.886, P = 0.036). Advancing age, dependence on care, male gender and eGFR < 60 mL min-1 /1.73 m2 increased odds of in-hospital mortality.ConclusionWe did not identify an association between ACE-I/ARB use and AKI, macrovascular thrombi or mortality. This supports the recommendations of the European and American Societies of Cardiology that ACE-Is and ARBs should not be discontinued during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Project description:BACKGROUNDThe angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) D allele is more prevalent among African Americans compared with other races and ethnicities and has previously been associated with severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pathogenesis through excessive ACE1 activity. ACE inhibitors/angiotensin receptor blockers (ACE-I/ARB) may counteract this mechanism, but their association with COVID-19 outcomes has not been specifically tested in the African American population.METHODSWe identified 6218 patients who were admitted into Mount Sinai hospitals with COVID-19 between February 24 and May 31, 2020, in New York City. We evaluated whether the outpatient and in-hospital use of ACE-I/ARB is associated with COVID-19 in-hospital mortality in an African American compared with non-African American population.RESULTSOf the 6218 patients with COVID-19, 1138 (18.3%) were ACE-I/ARB users. In a multivariate logistic regression model, ACE-I/ARB use was independently associated with a reduced risk of in-hospital mortality in the entire population (OR, 0.655; 95% CI, 0.505-0.850; P = 0.001), African American population (OR, 0.44; 95% CI, 0.249-0.779; P = 0.005), and non-African American population (OR, 0.748, 95% CI, 0.553-1.012, P = 0.06). In the African American population, in-hospital use of ACE-I/ARB was associated with improved mortality (OR, 0.378; 95% CI, 0.188-0.766; P = 0.006), whereas outpatient use was not (OR, 0.889; 95% CI, 0.375-2.158; P = 0.812). When analyzing each medication class separately, ARB in-hospital use was significantly associated with reduced in-hospital mortality in the African American population (OR, 0.196; 95% CI, 0.074-0.516; P = 0.001), whereas ACE-I use was not associated with impact on mortality in any population.CONCLUSIONIn-hospital use of ARB was associated with a significant reduction in in-hospital mortality among COVID-19-positive African American patients.FUNDINGNone.
Project description:BACKGROUND:There is uncertainty about the associations of angiotensive enzyme (ACE) inhibitor and angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) drugs with COVID-19 disease. We studied whether patients prescribed these drugs had altered risks of contracting severe COVID-19 disease and receiving associated intensive care unit (ICU) admission. METHODS:This was a prospective cohort study using routinely collected data from 1205 general practices in England with 8.28?million participants aged 20-99 years. We used Cox proportional hazards models to derive adjusted HRs for exposure to ACE inhibitor and ARB drugs adjusted for sociodemographic factors, concurrent medications and geographical region. The primary outcomes were: (a) COVID-19 RT-PCR diagnosed disease and (b) COVID-19 disease resulting in ICU care. FINDINGS:Of 19?486 patients who had COVID-19 disease, 1286 received ICU care. ACE inhibitors were associated with a significantly reduced risk of COVID-19 disease (adjusted HR 0.71, 95%?CI 0.67 to 0.74) but no increased risk of ICU care (adjusted HR 0.89, 95%?CI 0.75 to 1.06) after adjusting for a wide range of confounders. Adjusted HRs for ARBs were 0.63 (95% CI 0.59 to 0.67) for COVID-19 disease and 1.02 (95% CI 0.83 to 1.25) for ICU care.There were significant interactions between ethnicity and ACE inhibitors and ARBs for COVID-19 disease. The risk of COVID-19 disease associated with ACE inhibitors was higher in Caribbean (adjusted HR 1.05, 95% CI 0.87 to 1.28) and Black African (adjusted HR 1.31, 95% CI 1.08 to 1.59) groups than the white group (adjusted HR 0.66, 95%?CI 0.63 to 0.70). A higher risk of COVID-19 with ARBs was seen for Black African (adjusted HR 1.24, 95%?CI 0.99 to 1.58) than the white (adjusted HR 0.56, 95%?CI 0.52 to 0.62) group. INTERPRETATION:ACE inhibitors and ARBs are associated with reduced risks of COVID-19 disease after adjusting for a wide range of variables. Neither ACE inhibitors nor ARBs are associated with significantly increased risks of receiving ICU care. Variations between different ethnic groups raise the possibility of ethnic-specific effects of ACE inhibitors/ARBs on COVID-19 disease susceptibility and severity which deserves further study.
Project description:Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) outbreak is a major public health concern, which has accounted for >1.7 million deaths across the world. A surge in the case fatality ratio as compared with the infection ratio has been observed in most of the countries. The novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 shares the most common sequence with SARS-CoV, but it has a higher rate of transmission. The SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis is initiated by the binding of viral spike protein with the target receptor Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2 (ACE2) facilitating virus internalization within host cells. SARS-CoV-2 mainly causes alveolar damage ranging from mild to severe clinical respiratory manifestations. Most of the cases have revealed the association of Coronavirus disease with patients having earlier comorbidities like Hypertension, Diabetes mellitus, and Cerebrovascular diseases. Pharmacological investigation of the SARS-Cov-2 patients has revealed the frequent use of drugs belongs to Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEi) and/or Angiotensin II type I receptor blockers (ARBs). Interestingly, a significant increase in ACE2 expression was noticed in patients routinely treated with the above group of drugs were also reported. To date, the association of ACEi and/or ARBs with the up-regulation of ACE2 expression has not been defined distinctively. The proposed review will focus on the pathways which are responsible for the upregulation of ACE2 and its impact on gravity of SARS-CoV-2 disease.
Project description:Angiotensin Receptor Blockers (ARBs) exhibit major pleiotropic protecting effects beyond their antihypertensive properties, including reduction of inflammation. ARBs directly protect the lung from the severe acute respiratory syndrome as a result of viral infections, including those from coronavirus. The protective effect of ACE2 is enhanced by ARB administration. For these reasons ARB therapy must be continued for patients affected by hypertension, diabetes and renal disease, comorbidities of the current COVID-19 pandemic. Controlled clinical studies should be conducted to determine whether ARBs may be included as additional therapy for COVID-19 patients.
Project description:The functional receptor to SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, is angiotensin-converting enzyme-2 (ACE-2), the same enzyme that physiologically counters the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) activation. Some researchers have questioned RAS inhibitors' safety in COVID-19 patients since these drugs have demonstrated an increase in ACE-2 expression in preclinical studies; therefore, they may facilitate viral invasion. On the contrary, others have hypothesized a protective role of RAS inhibitors against COVID-19-associated lung injury. Overall, the data are grossly inadequate to reach any conclusion since no human trials have yet evaluated the effects of RAS inhibitors in COVID-19. We review the current data and pathophysiological mechanisms behind this intriguing interplay between the RAS inhibitors and the COVID-19.
Project description:Purpose of reviewThis review summarises the literature data and provides an overview of the role and impact of the use of renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) inhibitors in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection.Recent findingsThe angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) has a key role in the regulation of the RAAS pathway, downregulating angiotensin II and attenuating inflammation, vasoconstriction and oxidative stress. Additionally, it plays an instrumental part in COVID-19 infection as it facilitates the cell entry of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and enables its replication. The use and role of RAAS inhibitors therefore during the COVID-19 pandemic have been intensively investigated. Although it was initially assumed that RAAS inhibitors may relate to worse clinical outcomes and severe disease, data from large studies and meta-analyses demonstrated that they do not have an adverse impact on clinical outcomes or prognosis. On the contrary, some experimental and retrospective observational cohort studies showed a potential protective mechanism, although this effect remains to be seen in large clinical trials.
Project description:ObjectiveAnimal studies suggested that angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEi) and angiotensin-receptor blockers (ARB) facilitate the inoculation of potentially leading to a higher risk of infection and/or disease severity. We aimed to systematically evaluate the risk of COVID-19 infection and the risk of severe COVID-19 disease associated with previous exposure to (ACEi) and/or ARB).MethodsMEDLINE, CENTRAL, PsycINFO, Web of Science Core Collection were searched in June 2020 for controlled studies. Eligible studies were included and random-effects meta-analyses were performed. The estimates were expressed as odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI). Heterogeneity was assessed with I2 test. The confidence in the pooled evidence was appraised using the GRADE framework.ResultsTwenty-seven studies were included in the review. ACEi/ARB exposure did not increase the risk of having a positive test for COVID-19 infection (OR 0.99, 95%CI 0.89-1.11; I2 = 36%; 5 studies, GRADE confidence moderate). The exposure to ACEi/ARB did not increase the risk of all-cause mortality among patients with COVID-19 (OR 0.91, 95%CI 0.74-1.11; I2 = 20%; 17 studies; GRADE confidence low) nor severe/critical COVID-19 disease (OR 0.90, 95%CI 0.74-1.11; I2 = 55%; 17 studies; GRADE confidence very low). Exploratory analyses in studies enrolling hypertensive patients showed a association of ACEi/ARB with a significant decrease of mortality risk.ConclusionsACEi/ARB exposure does not seem to increase the risk of having the SARS-CoV-2 infection or developing severe stages of the disease including mortality. The potential benefits observed in mortality of hypertensive patients reassure safety, but robust studies are required to increase the confidence in the results.
Project description:Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEi) and angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARB) are frequently prescribed for a range of diseases including hypertension, proteinuric chronic kidney disease, and heart failure. There is evidence indicating that these drugs upregulate ACE2, a key component of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) and is found on the cells of a number of tissues, including the epithelial cells in the lungs. While ACE2 has a beneficial role in many diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, it also serves as a receptor for both SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 via binding with the spike protein of the virus, thereby allowing it entry into host cells. Thus, it has been suggested that these therapies can theoretically increase the risk of SARS- CoV-2 infection and cause more severe COVID-19. Given the success of ACEi and ARBs in cardiovascular diseases, we seek to gain insights into the implications of these medications in the pathogenesis of COVID-19. To that end, we have developed a mathematical model that represents the RAS, binding of ACE2 with SARS-CoV-2 and the subsequent cell entry, and the host's acute inflammatory response. The model can simulate different levels of SARS-CoV-2 exposure, and represent the effect of commonly prescribed anti-hypertensive medications, ACEi and ARB, and predict tissue damage. Model simulations indicate that whether the extent of tissue damage may be exacerbated by ACEi or ARB treatment depends on a number of factors, including the level of existing inflammation, dosage, and the effect of the drugs on ACE2 protein abundance. The findings of this study can serve as the first step in the development of appropriate and more comprehensive guidelines for the prescription of ACEi and ARB in the current and future coronavirus pandemics.