High BP likely to double risk of Omicron despite full vaccination: Study
Dallas (US), July 21: High blood pressure can double a person's risk for hospitalisation from an Omicron-variant Covid-19 infection - even in the presence of full vaccination including a booster dose of the Covid-19 vaccines, suggests a new study of adults hospitalised with covid-19 in Los Angeles between December 2021 and April 2022.
High blood pressure, also known as hypertension, remained to have an effect on the severe Covid-19 sickness even in the absence of other chronic disorders such as type 2 diabetes, kidney disease, or heart failure.
"These findings are important since approximately half of the adults in the U.S. have high blood pressure," says the study's lead author Joseph E. Ebinger, M.D., M.S., an assistant professor of cardiology and the director of clinical analytics at the Smidt Heart Institute at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
COVID-19 vaccines have been used early in the pandemic to help reduce mortality as well as some of the severe side effects of the infection. Observational research conducted in Israel discovered that a booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccination lowered the risk of serious disease by up to 70%. Nonetheless, during the initial Omicron variant outbreak, some patients who had taken the full dose and the booster dose were required to be hospitalised for COVID-19.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Omicron variant, which is still the more prevalent, was detected for the first time in the United States in December 2021. As of July 2022, seven Omicron subvariants had been discovered.
Even though the study group included participants who had received the whole COVID-19 vaccine series and a booster dose, researchers sought to investigate the features of those individuals who had COVID-19 cases severe enough to necessitate hospital care.
Also Read | Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann admitted to hospital after feeling unwell: Reports
Other elderly people without other underlying medical concerns are also at risk, according to the study's findings. Even if a person has no other substantial chronic conditions, a breakthrough Omicron infection serious enough to necessitate hospitalisation can harm an adult of any age, especially if that person has high blood pressure.
During an Omicron surge in the greater Los Angeles area between December 2021 and April 2022, 912 adults who had received at least three doses of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine and were treated for COVID-19 participated in a retrospective cohort study. The demographic details examined included age, gender, race, ethnicity, and clinical data from electronic health records. Chronic medical disorders such as type 2 diabetes, kidney disease, heart attack, heart failure, and previous chronic pulmonary obstructive disease or asthma are examples of key clinical features and variables discovered by researchers.
According to the findings, around 16% of the 912 patients who received the three doses of the mRNA Covid-19 vaccine required hospitalisation.
The study's findings suggested that the risk of hospitalisation was found to be increased by advanced age, high blood pressure, chronic kidney disease, heart attack, heart failure, and the interval between the last immunisation and COVID-19 infection.
Even when the participants had no other serious chronic health conditions, people with high blood pressure were 2.6 times more likely to need hospital care for a severe COVID-19 illness.
Of the 145 patients admitted to the hospital, at least 125 (86.2%) had high blood pressure.
Also Read | Presidential polls 2022: After first round, Droupadi Murmu gets 540 votes, 208 votes for Yashwant Sinha
-PTC News
