Stats and data people - help me understand hypertension risk?

[VitreousHumour]

Can anyone interpret for me the recent data on hypertension and severity of CV19?

This widely-reported study found that there was no major increased risk of a severe outcome for people treated with the various forms of medication for hypertension (ACE-inhibitors, ARBs etc).

But has it therefore found that there is no increased risk of a severe outcome for people who have hypertension overall, regardless of which medication they are on? ie are they effectively one and the same thing?!

This statement from the International Society of Hypertension seems to say that people with hypertension are in fact under-represented in the group who have severe outcomes, given the proportion of older people in the general population who have hypertension (see note 2.) But it doesn't give any detail.

I think we'd need to know [% of people with severe outcomes who have hypertension] and [% of people who have hypertension], but once I think about whether age needs to be factored in, my head explodes!

Thanks in advance for any light you can shed.

Bump..

Bumping for you too. I'm interested and haven't made much sense of this risk either

Thanks Lost!
@Barracker, I know you're busy and this is v cheeky but if you can point us in the right direction that would be really fantastic.

I take ACE inhibitors for hypertension and I’m 56 yrs old so I did a bit of reading early on regarding risk. Although hypertension is listed as a Co morbidity it may be a red herring as it often goes hand in hand with diabetes, cardiovascular disease and obesity.
Initially the studies suggested ACE inhibitors may increase the risk but later studies suggested they may actually reduce risk. ACE inhibitors are not called the ‘never die’ tablets for nothing.
Hypertension on its own and when drug controlled may not increase risk. But there are a lot of other factors to consider. Interestingly emerging data show smokers to have a lower risk than non smokers and ex smokers and taking HRT may be protective. Vit D appears to be a big factor as well. Having looked at the most recent ONS data the average monthly deaths for women in my age group has stayed the same since before the outbreak whereas for men it has nearly doubled.
Also women in the 25-30 BMI group appear to do better.
So many variables!

I don’t think there have been enough studies that have adjusted for variables as yet. I’m interested in how much my risk is increased due to obesity but I don’t have any other risk factors. Obesity is intertwined with diabetes, cardiovascular, kidney issues etc, but I don’t have any of these. Any studies I’ve seen have not yet been peer reviewed or have not adjusted for these comorbidities.

I did notice that hypertension had been dropped from the gov.uk clinically vulnerable list though. So maybe it’s not as risky as originally thought.

I didn't know it had been dropped. Would be good to know why. I am doing the daily covid app and they mention it in their research covid.joinzoe.com/post/blood-pressure

It isn't conclusive though

Interesting - it is indeed very difficult to get any data which isn't intertwined with co-morbidities isn't it?

That's why I was so interested in the latest research on ACE-2 inhibitors and ARBs - but I cannot for the life of me get my head around whether 'no increased risk for those on ACE-inhibitors or ARBs' is effective the same thing as saying 'no increased risk for hypertensive patients who are medicated'.

ie is it saying medicated hypertensive people are at no greater risk than non-medicated patients ('ace inhibitors are safe')

Or is it saying 'medicated hypertensive patients are only at increased risk because of the intertwining with other co-morbidities - hypertension itself is no greater risk if medicated with ace inhibitors.'

Gnnnn - it's doing my head in! Trying to find out for DH for whom it could make a huge difference in terms of losing/not losing his business..

My hypertension was pregnancy induced and was at the top of normal. I had labile hypertension, whenever they put a cuff on me it would go up, so the medication was to prevent it causing long term damage to my heart and kidneys. Yearly reviews have never shown any damage and I have managed to reduce my BMI over the last few years.
It is no guarantee.
I am waiting for antibody Test to be available because I had full set of Covid symptoms in mid February and work very closely to patients in aerosol generating environment. Hopefully I’ve had the virus but at least the test will allow me to make informed risk assessment going forward. Fortunately my profession are in limbo until the science provides a solution.

Good luck with the test @oralengineer.