A new study has found that COVID-19 may have a significant impact on the development of high blood pressure. The research, published in the medical journal Hypertension, reveals that more than 20% of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 and over 10% of those who weren't hospitalized were diagnosed with hypertension six months later. In comparison to individuals who had influenza, COVID-19 patients who were hospitalized had more than twice the likelihood of developing high blood pressure.
High blood pressure, also known as hypertension, is a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke, the leading causes of death in the United States. Nearly half of all adults in the country have hypertension, leading to approximately 700,000 deaths in 2021, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The study examined the medical records of over 45,000 COVID-19 patients and nearly 14,000 influenza patients from the Bronx borough of New York City between 2020 and 2022. None of the patients had a history of hypertension before their viral infection. During a follow-up appointment six months later, researchers tracked which patients had been newly diagnosed with high blood pressure.
The study revealed that COVID-19 patients who were hospitalized had a hypertension diagnosis rate twice as high as non-hospitalized patients. Approximately 21% of those hospitalized with COVID-19 were diagnosed with hypertension, compared to 11% who weren't hospitalized.
Alarmingly, more than 1 in 5 hospitalized COVID-19 patients developed hypertension while actively infected with the virus, despite having no prior history of high blood pressure. Additionally, COVID-19 patients fared worse in terms of blood pressure outcomes compared to influenza patients.
Furthermore, COVID-19 patients had a 2.23 times higher risk of developing high blood pressure when hospitalized compared to influenza patients. Even COVID-19 patients who weren't hospitalized had a more than 50% increased likelihood of developing hypertension compared to non-hospitalized influenza patients.
Several demographic groups were found to be at a higher risk of developing hypertension after a COVID-19 infection. This included individuals over 40 years old, those who were Black, and those with pre-existing conditions like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), coronary artery disease, or chronic kidney disease. Patients treated with vasopressor medications or corticosteroids were also at a higher risk.
It remains unclear how the COVID-19 virus can trigger new-onset high blood pressure. The study proposes two potential mechanisms: the virus could infect heart cells and disrupt blood pressure regulation, or acute kidney injury, a common complication during COVID-19 hospitalization, could contribute to hypertension.
The study also noted that most of the participants came from low socioeconomic status communities, which may have increased their risk of developing high blood pressure. Factors such as stress and limited access to healthy food, which are associated with poverty, could have contributed to higher rates of hypertension.
The researchers suggest that longer-term follow-up research is needed to establish a closer link between COVID-19 and high blood pressure, as well as to understand the long-term effects on heart health. In the meantime, these findings serve as a valuable insight for doctors to screen at-risk patients for hypertension after COVID-19 illness, enabling earlier identification and treatment of potential complications such as cardiovascular and kidney diseases.