Researchers are now studying widely prescribed cardiovascular drugs after early findings revealed it could prevent or reduce complications in COVID-19 patients and help boost recovery.

Scientists are conducting studies on blood-pressure drugs, blood thinners, statins, and other drugs used to treat heart disease to find out whether they can help patients fight against respiratory disease. The results, which are expected to come out this summer, could offer medical professionals a new array of drugs to treat coronavirus-positive patients.

Heart and Lung Disease

According to several studies, the virus has caused severe or critical complications in as many as 20 percent of all patients. Most patients developed a complication that included inflammation of the heart, heart rhythm disorders, or blood clots. The developments led some researchers to believe the disease affects both the respiratory and vascular system.

Doctors first attributed blood clots to COVID-19 in April when the disease was believed to cause pneumonia. Reports of young people dying of coronavirus-related strokes and red and inflamed toes came shortly after.

The evidence supporting the theory that the virus could also infect blood vessels has steadily grown months since the pandemic was first reported. The infection of blood vessels would explain the diverse set of complication observed in patients.

The damage the virus causes to the blood vessels may also explain why people with pre-existing complications such as diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and obesity are at a higher risk for developing severe complications.

The theory may also explain why patients suffering from severe or critical conditions do not benefit from ventilators. "If you have blood clots within the blood vessels that are required for complete oxygen exchange, even if you're moving air in and out of the airways, [if] the circulation is blocked, the full benefits of mechanical ventilatory support are somewhat thwarted," William Li, president of the Angiogenesis Foundation, said.

Cardiovascular Drugs

Researchers now hope drugs used to treat heart diseases could reduce inflammation and attack the virus, potentially saving the patient's life.

Recent studies also found common blood-pressure drugs such as angiotensin-converting enzyme and angiotensin-receptor blockers do not raise a patient's risk of getting infected with COVID-19 or developing a serious illness.

The research that was conducted over concerns about drugs might have contributed to high death rates of patients with hypertension, found no link between the use of the medicine and positive for the virus. The study involved 12,600 patients in the New York City area and was led by researchers from New York University's Grossman School of Medicine.

Another study conducted in Boston found no association between ingesting blood-pressure drugs and dying from the virus in the hospital. The study involved 8,910 patients confined in hospitals in Asia, Europe, and North America.

The findings affect millions of people living in the United States where 45.4 percent of adults suffer from hypertension, with the percentage rising since 2013.

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