High Blood Pressure Increases Risk of Hospitalization or Death Due to COVID-19
People with high blood pressure had a 22 percent higher risk of being admitted to a hospital or dying from COVID-19, regardless of other factors, such as age, sex, ethnicity or weight status, according to a new U.K. study.The research, published on November 9 in the journal PLoS One, is the first study to show the extent to which high blood pressure, also known as hypertension, can be directly linked to patients developing severe COVID-19.These findings further emphasize the importance of adequate blood pressure control, said senior study author Ian Wilkinson, BMBCh, a cardiology consultant at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CUH) and professor of therapeutics at the University of Cambridge. “Unfortunately, post-pandemic, the rates of blood pressure control have worsened, as have the number of people being screened…