DO AGE, HYPERTENSION, CORONARY ARTERY DISEASE, ACE-I, ARB OR BETA-BLOCKERS THERAPY INCREASE THE RISK OF MORTALITY IN COVID 19 PATIENTS? THE RESULTS OF A TERTIARY CENTER IN TURKEY

İlkim Deniz Toprak¹, Selin Sağlam², Bilge Aşıkoğlu¹, Hasan Eruzun^{3, *}, Sıla Öksüz¹, Elif Sargın Altunok⁴ 

¹University of Health Sciences Turkey, Gaziosmanpaşa Training and Research Hospital, Department of Internal Medicine, İstanbul, Turkey - ²Prof. Dr. Cemil Tascioglu Urban Hospital, Department of Internal Medicine, İstanbul, Turkey - ³University of Health Sciences Turkey, Samsun Training and Research Hospital, Department of Internal Medicine, Samsun, Turkey - ⁴University of Health Sciences Turkey, Gaziosmanpaşa Training and Research Hospital, Department of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology, İstanbul, Turkey

Introduction: Herein, we will present the details of the patients admitted to a tertiary center, in Turkey, with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 who were carrying the criteria for in-patient treatment. The definite clinical outcomes (death or discharge) of the patients are recorded and we aimed to determine the effects of comorbidities and the drugs they were using on outcomes.

Materials and methods: Patient records were retrospectively evaluated from medical records.  The detection of the Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in respiratory specimens is performed by next-generation sequencing or real-time RT-PCR methods. 

Results: Totally 298 patients diagnosed with and in-patient followed for COVID-19 infection were included in the study. During follow-ups, 239 were discharged without intensive care unit (ICU) requirements. The mortality rate was 8.7% in these hospitalized patients. The mean age of the expired and discharged patients were significantly different (69.48 ±10.02 vs. 56.82 ±15.52, p:0.001). ACE-I-ARB and beta-blocker usages were significantly more common in expired patients. Risk estimates were performed with crosstabs. Regarding these findings, age ≥ 65 years increased the risk of mortality for 5.145 times (2.130 -12.426); the presence of hypertension increased the risk of mortality for 3.55 times (1.63-7.74); coronary artery disease for 3.07 times (1.39-6.78); ACE-I-ARB usage for 2.77 times (1.32 - 5.82); beta-blocker usage for 2.88 times (1.33-6.23) and sulfonylurea usage for 3.42 times (1.34-8.72). 

Conclusion: Older age, presence of hypertension and coronary artery disease and using ACE-I, ARB or beta-blockers were increasing the risk of mortality.