May 4, 2020

Cardiovascular Disease, Drug Therapy, and Mortality in Covid-19

Category: Article Summary

Topic: Testing and Treatment

• Using medical records from 169 hospitals in Asia, Europe, and North America, from 8,910 COVID-19 patients with known discharge status, these authors found the following factors were positively association with risk of death (i.e., higher value of the factor associated with higher risk of death): age >65 years, coronary artery disease, heart failure, cardiac arrhythmia, COPD, current smoking. Odds ratio were between 1.79 and 2.95 for all factors. For use of ACE inhibitors the association was negative, and for angiotensin-receptor-blockers the association was positive but not significant.  

Mehra et al. (May 1, 2020). Cardiovascular Disease, Drug Therapy, and Mortality in Covid-19. The New England Journal of Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2007621