The European Society of Cardiology is urging doctors and patients to continue treatment with angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs).
This comes after concerns that the agents could increase the risk of developing the coronavirus and possibly worsen its severity, according to Medscape.
Researchers, in a paper published in British medical journal The Lancet, warn that certain drugs used to treat diabetes or high blood pressure have the potential to change a person's cells and make it less difficult for the virus to infect them, The Sun reported.
The result could mean severe illness, according to the scientists from University Hospital Basel in Switzerland and the University of Thessaloniki in Greece, the newspaper reported.
"We therefore hypothesize that diabetes and hypertension treatment with ACE2-stimulating drugs increases the risk of developing severe and fatal COVID-19," researchers said in their study.
"We suggest that patients with cardiac diseases, hypertension, or diabetes, who are treated with ACE2-increasing drugs, are at higher risk for severe COVID-19 infection and, therefore, should be monitored for ACE2-modulating medications, such as ACE inhibitors or ARBs."
The Sun noted that the scientists have cautioned their findings don't prove a link between the drugs and severe cases of the virus.
And the European Society of Cardiology Council on Hypertension dismissed the researchers' concerns.
"Speculation about the safety of ACE-inhibitor or ARB treatment in relation to COVID-19 does not have a sound scientific basis or evidence to support it," the ESC panel said, according to Medscape.
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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