• Anna E Ssentongo, Paddy Ssentongo, Emily S Heilbrunn, Alain Lekoubou, Ping Du, Duanping Liao, John S Oh, and Vernon M Chinchilli.
• Department of Surgery, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania, USA assentongo@pennstatehealth.psu.edu.
• Open Heart. 2020 Nov 1; 7 (2).

ObjectiveThe association between the use of renin-angiotensin-aldosterone (RAAS) inhibitors and the risk of mortality from COVID-19 is unclear. We aimed to estimate the association of RAAS inhibitors, including ACE inhibitors (ACEi) and angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs) with COVID-19 mortality risk in patients with hypertension.MethodsPubMed (MEDLINE) SCOPUS, OVID, Cochrane Library databases and medrxiv.org were searched from 1 January 2020 to 1 September 2020. Studies reporting the association of RAAS inhibitors (ACEi or ARBs) and mortality in patients with hypertension, hospitalised for COVID-19 were extracted. Two reviewers independently extracted appropriate data of interest and assessed the risk of bias. All analyses were performed using random-effects models on log-transformed risk ratio (RR) estimates, and heterogeneity was quantified.ResultsFourteen studies were included in the systematic review (n=73,073 patients with COVID-19; mean age 61 years; 53% male). Overall, the between-study heterogeneity was high (I2=80%, p<0.01). Patients with hypertension with prior use of RAAS inhibitors were 35% less likely to die from COVID-19 compared with patients with hypertension not taking RAAS inhibitors (pooled RR 0.65, 95% CI 0.45 to 0.94). The quality of evidence by Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluations was graded as 'moderate' quality.ConclusionsIn this meta-analysis, with prior use of RAAS inhibitors was associated with lower risk mortality from COVID-19 in patients with hypertension. Our findings suggest a potential protective effect of RAAS-inhibitors in COVID-19 patients with hypertension.Prospero Registration NumberThe present study has been registered with PROSPERO (registration ID: CRD 42020187963).© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2020. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.

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