Beneficial Effects of Angiotensin II Receptor Blockers on Mortality in Patients with COVID-19: A Retrospective Study from 2019 to 2020 in China

Background COVID-19 pandemic has become a serious global public health problem. Although the use of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) and angiotensin II receptor type 1 blockers (ARBs) has been recommended in patients with COVID-19 and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), according to the results of some small-sample retrospective analyses; however, there is still a lack of sufficient evidence to validate their efficacy. This multicenter retrospective study investigated whether ACEI/ARB administration was beneficial in patients with COVID-19 and CVDs. Methods A total of 11,231 patients with confirmed COVID-19 and CVDs, from 138 hospitals in Hubei Province, were included in this multicenter retrospective study. We compared the clinical characteristics and outcomes between the ARB and non-ARB groups and analyzed the risk factors for in-hospital death using univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses and Kaplan–Meier curves. Results In the multivariate Cox regression model, after adjusting for age, gender, comorbidities, and in-hospital medications, ARB use was associated with lower all-cause mortality (adjusted HR, 0.53; 95% CI, 0.38–0.73; P < 0.001). After propensity score-matched analysis, the adjusted HR for the use of ARB associated with all-cause mortality was 0.62 (95% CI, 0.40–0.88; P = 0.02). Further subgroup analyses found that the adjusted HRs for the use of ARB associated with all-cause mortality were 0.52 (95% CI, 0.30–0.89; P = 0.016), 0.37 (95% CI, 0.21–0.64; P < 0.001), 0.42 (95% CI, 0.28–0.64; P < 0.001), and 0.55 (95% CI, 0.37–0.84; P = 0.005) in patients with heart failure, diabetes, and hypercholesterolemia, and severe COVID-19, respectively. Conclusions ARB administration was significantly associated with a lower risk of all-cause mortality in patients with COVID-19 and CVDs. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05615792.