Scientists are baffled by how the coronavirus attacks the body - killing many patients while barely affecting others.
FILE PHOTO: A member of the French Civil Protection service measures blood pressure of a man suspected of being infected with the coronavirus disease , as its spread continues, in Paris, France, April 5, 2020. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/File Photo
Efforts to understand how the virus uses the pathway to the heart and lungs, and the role of the medicines, are complicated by a lack of rigorous studies. Many patients are agonizing over whether their medicines will help or hurt them. Doris Kertzner, 88, of Redding, Conn., said she has carefully followed experts’ guidelines for preventing infection and keeps her distance from others in her retirement community. Now she has a new worry: She takes losartan, an ARB, and can’t decide whether to stop.“It’s gotten very complicated,” she said.
Dr Marc Suchard - a biostatistician at the University of California, Los Angeles who is leading the study - said that it aims to determine whether the medicines make infections more likely or more severe - or, by contrast, whether they help protect against the virus. Suchard said he expects a preliminary report within two weeks.There is evidence that the drugs may increase the presence of an enzyme - ACE2 - that produces hormones that lower blood pressure by widening blood vessels.
The company reviewed several recent studies from China that came to conflicting conclusions about whether COVID-19 patients with hypertension fare worse than other patients, he said.
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