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

Abstract (PubMed)

Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) may disproportionately affect people with cardiovascular disease. Concern has been aroused regarding a potential harmful effect of angiotensin-converting-enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and angiotensin-receptor blockers (ARBs) in this clinical context. Using an observational database from 169 hospitals in Asia, Europe, and North America, we evaluated the relationship of cardiovascular disease and drug therapy with in-hospital death among hospitalized patients with Covid-19 who were admitted between December 20, 2019, and March 15, 2020, and were recorded in the Surgical Outcomes Collaborative registry as having either died in the hospital or survived to discharge as of March 28, 2020. Of the 8910 patients with Covid-19 for whom discharge status was available at the time of the analysis, a total of 515 died in the hospital (5.8%) and 8395 survived to discharge. The factors found to be independently associated with an increased risk of in-hospital death included age >65 years, coronary artery disease, heart failure, cardiac arrhythmia, COPD, and current smoking. No increased risk of in-hospital death was found to be associated with ACE inhibitors or ARBs. The article was subsequently retracted due to data integrity concerns with the Surgisphere database.