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 Taking blood pressure medicines linked to lower COVID-19 mortality
Regularly taking drugs to control high blood pressure appears to
lower the risk of becoming severely ill or dying if people with
hypertension become infected with the new coronavirus, a new study
found. Among nearly 2,900 people hospitalized in China with
COVID-19, patients with high blood pressure had twice the risk of
death and were more likely to need mechanical ventilation than those
without hypertension, a known risk factor for severe COVID-19. But
those taking drugs to control their blood pressure had a
significantly lower risk of death from COVID-19 than those not
treated for their hypertension, researchers reported on Thursday in
the European Heart Journal. This was true even if patients were
taking blood pressure drugs known as ACE inhibitors or ARBs. Several
papers have suggested these drugs might increase COVID-19
susceptibility, but in this study, "the results were in the opposite
direction, with a trend in favor of ACE inhibitors and ARBs," said
coauthor Fei Li of Xijing Hospital in Xi'an, China. The American
College of Cardiology, American Heart Association and Heart Failure
Society of America have all recommended that patients continue
taking hypertension drugs prescribed to them. (https://bit.ly/3cDTwjH;
https://reut.rs/2MxVQy6;)
More precise test recommended to predict blood clots in severe
COVID-19 patients
Standard tests performed in intensive care units (ICUs) to assess
blood clotting risk in COVID-19 patients have been less than
optimal, with catheters in veins and arteries frequently - and
unpredictably - becoming clogged by blood clots. Heart surgeons in
Texas, hearing of the problem, suggested use of a
thromboelastography (TEG) test, which looks at how quickly a clot
forms, as well as its strength and stability. TEG is used most often
for open heart surgery and trauma patients. When the Texas doctors
studied 21 ICU patients with COVID-19, almost two-thirds had
developed clots that could be predicted by the TEG test, but not by
standard tests, according to a report on Friday in JAMA Network
Open. "The TEG test should be performed on all COVID-19 ICU patients
immediately to find those who are at a higher risk of clotting,"
study coauthor Dr. Todd Rosengart, chair of the DeBakey department
of surgery at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, said in a
statement. By the time catheters are clotting, "the horse is out of
the barn," he said. For patients at higher risk of blood clots as
indicated by the TEG test, the researchers recommend use of
additional blood thinners. (https://bit.ly/2Buzf34)
Less invasive, self-performed swab tests may be as good as tests
done by healthcare workers
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When people with upper respiratory symptoms need to be tested for the
coronavirus, having them swab the inside of their nose might be just as
effective as having a healthcare worker collect nasopharyngeal samples,
researchers suggested on Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine. At
outpatient clinics in the Puget Sound region of Washington state, 530 patients
collected samples from the tongue and from two places inside the nose. A
nasopharyngeal sample was also obtained by a healthcare worker. As it turned
out, nose samples collected by the patients were more than 90% accurate at
identifying coronavirus infections. If these early results could be verified in
larger studies with broader populations, the researchers said, self-swabbing of
the nose would be more comfortable for patients and safer for the healthcare
workers who would have less exposure to aerosolized virus droplets and would
require less personal protective equipment. (https://bit.ly/2UbjPan)
Retracted studies shine harsh light on respected journals
Two of the world's most highly respected medical journals - The Lancet and The
New England Journal of Medicine - on Thursday withdrew papers written by the
same team of authors about COVID-19 treatments, citing concerns about the data.
The high-profile Lancet paper had reported treating COVID-19 with
hydroxy-chloroquine increased the risk of death, based on an observational
review of 96,000 patients worldwide. That finding led the World Health
Organization and others to halt major trials. Other researchers quickly
questioned whether data on so many patients could have been collected and
analyzed in the short time since the pandemic began. When Surgisphere, the
company that provided the data for both studies, refused to transfer its dataset
for independent review, several of the authors said they can no longer vouch for
its veracity. "Science will not move forward if others can't check researchers'
work. The need for speed is no excuse," said Dr. Ivan Oransky, vice president of
Medscape and co-founder of the Retraction Watch blog. The recent events are
"also a reminder that policy U-turns based on a single study are almost always a
bad idea," Oransky told Reuters. (https://reut.rs/2Y663qJ;)
(Reporting by Nancy Lapid, Saumya Joseph and Michael Erman; Editing by Bill
Berkrot)
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