Editor's note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape's Coronavirus Resource Center. Continue reading →

Editor's note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape's Coronavirus Resource Center. Initial data from one Chinese center on the use of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) in patients hospitalized with COVID-19 appear to give some further reassurance about continued use of these drugs. The report from one hospital in Wuhan found that among patients with hypertension hospitalized with the COVID-19 virus, there was no difference in disease severity or death rate in patients taking ACE inhibitors or ARBs and those not taking such medications Continue reading →

APRIL 23, 2020 -- The signature electrocardiographic sign indicating ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) may be a less consistent indicator of actual STEMI at a time when patients with COVID-19 have come to overwhelm many hospital intensive care units. Many of the 18 such patients identified at six New York City hospitals who showed ST-segment elevation (STE) on their 12-lead electrocardiogram in the city's first month of fighting the pandemic turned out to be free of either obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) by angiography or of regional wall-motion abnormalities (RWMA) by echocardiography, notes an April 17 letter to the New England Journal of Medicine. Continue reading →

EDISON, N.J., April 24, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --Hackensack Meridian Health, New Jersey's largest and most comprehensive health network, conducted an observational real world study of more than 3,000 hospitalized COVID-19 patients and found that hypertension, the most common co-existing condition, does not have a major impact on survival from the infection when adjusted for age and other comorbid conditions. The study also found that commonly prescribed medications to treat high blood pressure may potentially have a positive impact. Continue reading →