J Korean Med Sci.  2020 Jun;35(25):e232. 10.3346/jkms.2020.35.e232.

Compliance of Antihypertensive Medication and Risk of Coronavirus Disease 2019: a Cohort Study Using Big Data from the Korean National Health Insurance Service

• Kim J
• Kim DW
• Kim Ki
• Kim HB
• Kim JH
• Lee YG
• Byeon KH
• Cheong HK
• the Korean Society of Hypertension

• KMID: 2503661
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2020.35.e232

Abstract

Background
There is a controversy whether it is safe to continue renin-angiotensin system blockers in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We analyzed big data to investigate whether angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and/or angiotensin II receptor blockers have any significant effect on the risk of COVID-19. Population-based cohort study was conducted based on the prescription data from nationwide health insurance records.
Methods
We investigated the 1,374,381 residents aged ≥ 40 years living in Daegu, the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak, between February and March 2020. Prescriptions of antihypertensive medication during the year before the outbreak were extracted from the National Health Insurance Service registry. Medications were categorized by types and stratified by the medication possession ratios (MPRs) of antihypertensive medications after controlling for the potential confounders. The risk of COVID-19 was estimated using a difference in difference analysis.
Results
Females, older individuals, low-income earners, and recently hospitalized patients had a higher risk of infection. Patients with higher MPRs of antihypertensive medications had a consistently lower risk of COVID-19 than those with lower MPRs of antihypertensive medications and non-users. Among patients who showed complete compliance, there was a significantly lower risk of COVID-19 for those prescribed angiotensin II receptor blockers (relative risk [RR], 0.751; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.587–0.960) or calcium channel blockers (RR, 0.768; 95% CI, 0.601–0.980).
Conclusion
Renin-angiotensin system blockers or other antihypertensive medications do not increase the risk of COVID-19. Patients should not stop antihypertensive medications, including renin-angiotensin system blockers, because of concerns of COVID-19.

Keyword

Coronavirus Disease 2019; Antihypertensive Medication; Big Data; Cohort Study; Risk Assessment

Figure

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  Fig. 1 Risk of coronavirus disease 2019 according to the type of antihypertensives in Daegu, Korea, difference in difference analysis. Adjusted for sex, age group, residential districts, income level, recent hospitalization, and medication possession ratio of total antihypertensives.ACEIs = angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, ARBs = angiotensin receptor blockers, BBs = beta blockers, CCBs = calcium channel blockers, RR = relative risk.

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