Demographic, clinical characteristics and in-hospital outcome of hypertensive covid-19 positive patients

Objective: Less is known about the overall impact of hypertension on COVID-19 in Bangladeshi population. This study aimed to compare demographic and clinical characteristics and in-hospital outcome of hypertensive versus non-hypertensive COVID-19 positive patients. Design and method: All cardiac patients who became COVID-19 positive and healthcare personnel with COVID-19 infection were included in this prospective observational study. The study was conducted from April 2020 to November 2022 in the department of cardiology of National Heart Foundation Hospital & Research Institute which was COVID-non-dedicated tertiary care cardiac hospital. The patients were divided into two groups based on hypertension: hypertensive COVID-19 group and non-hypertensive COVID-19 group. Results: Among 2488 COVID-19 positive patients, 58.6% (1459) were hypertensive and 41.4% (1029) were non-hypertensive. Mean age of the COVID-19 positive hypertensive group was 56.38 ± 11.93 years and the non-hypertensive COVID-19 positive group was 41.65 ± 17.07 years (p = 0.001). In-hypertensive COVID-19 positive group, 71.8% patients were male and 28.2% were female & in non-hypertensive COVID-19 positive group, 60.1% patients were male and 39.9% were female (p = 0.001). In comparison to non-hypertensive COVID-19 positive patients, hypertensive COVID-19 positive patients were predominantly smoker (38.1% vs 19.8%; p = 0.001), diabetic (57.4% vs 15.1%; p = 0.001), dyslipidemic (31.9% vs 16.1%; p = 0.001), have positive family history of ischemic heart disease (IHD) (12.9% vs 7.8%; p = 0.001). Hypertensive COVID-19 positive patients had more symptomatic presentation (74.2% vs 66.6%; p = 0.001), more severe form of the disease (8.2% vs 3.6%; p = 0.001), higher in-hospital acute left ventricular failure-12.3% vs 5.5%; p = 0.001), in-hospital cardiogenic shock (3.8% vs 1.6%; p = 0.001) and in-hospital death (4.7% vs 2.9%; p = 0.02). Conclusions: Hypertensive COVID-19 positive patients were predominantly smoker, diabetic, dyslipidemic, have positive family history of IHD, had more symptomatic presentation, more severe form of disease, higher in-hospital complications & in-hospital death.