COVID-19 linked with new-onset high BP

LONDON: Getting COVID-19 is linked with developing high blood pressure within six months after having the infection, especially in people with a preexisting heart condition, or those who are older than 40, Black, or male, according to new research published on August 21, 2023, in the American Heart Association (AHA) journal Hypertension.

Researchers compared people diagnosed with COVID-19 with those diagnosed with the flu, another respiratory virus, and found that those with COVID-19 were more than twice as likely to develop hypertension.

“Given the sheer number of people affected by COVID-19 compared with influenza, these statistics are alarming and suggest that many more patients will likely develop high blood pressure in the future, which may present a major public health burden,” said senior study author Tim Q. Duong, PhD, a professor of radiology and the vice chair for radiology research at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Health System in New York City, in an AHA release.

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Vivek Bhalla, MD, an associate professor of medicine at Stanford Medicine and a nephrologist at Stanford Health in California, who was not involved in the study, agrees: “This study has potential implications for hypertension care, particularly the burden of care, in the U.S.”

While COVID-19 is typically more severe in patients with preexisting high blood pressure, including higher rates of hospitalization and death compared with people with normal blood pressure, it hasn’t been clear whether the SARS-CoV-2 virus may in fact trigger the development of high blood pressure or worsen preexisting hypertension, says Dr. Duong.

Researchers compared about 45,000 people with COVID-19 between March 1, 2020, and February 20, 2022, and nearly 14,000 people with influenza without COVID-19 between January 2018 and February 20, 2022. All participants had no history of hypertension, and returned for a follow-up within three to nine months after testing positive for COVID-19 or influenza.

Researchers found that 21 percent of people hospitalized with COVID-19 developed high blood pressure, compared with 16 percent of people hospitalized with the flu.

In the participants who had COVID-19 but weren’t hospitalized, 11 percent developed high blood pressure, compared with just 4 percent who had flu but weren’t hospitalized.

Among the people who got COVID-19, the highest risk for hypertension was in those over 40, men, Black individuals, or people with preexisting conditions, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, coronary artery disease, or chronic kidney disease.