Patients with COVID-19 Should Continue ACE Inhibitors and ARBs: A Joint Statement from U.S. Heart Groups

There is no clinical evidence of a connection between the medications and risk for illness.

Patients with novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) who have underlying hypertension, heart failure, or ischemic heart disease should not stop taking their angiotensin-converting–enzyme (ACE) inhibitors or angiotensin-receptor blockers (ARBs), according to a new statement from the American Heart Association, the American College of Cardiology, and the Heart Failure Society of America.

Previously, in a letter published in Lancet Respiratory Medicine, researchers proposed that ACE inhibitors and ARBs could increase the risk for developing severe COVID-19. The coronavirus binds to target cells through ACE2, the expression of which is increased when patients take these drugs.

— Adapted from a Physician's First Watch article, published on March 17,…

Author

Karol E. Watson, MD, PhD, FACC

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardBoehringer Ingelheim; Amgen; Novartis; Lilly; Amarin

Speaker’s BureauBoehringer Ingelheim

Grant/Research SupportNIH

Editorial BoardsCirculation (Associate Editor)