Investigation of symptoms and mortality in hypertension patients diagnosed with COVID-19: A retrospective case-control study

Abstract

It was aimed to determine whether there is a difference in mortality and symptoms between patients, aged 60 years or above, with hypertension (HT) and Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection and those without any chronic disease. The population of the study, which was conducted as a retrospective case-control study, consisted of 2747 HT patients diagnosed with COVID-19 and aged 60 years or above. While 170 patients with HT diagnosis formed the case group, 170 patients without any chronic disease formed the control group from the sample. In this study, the time from diagnosis to death was found to be shorter in the presence of HT in COVID-19 patients, while males diagnosed with COVID-19 had higher rates of intensive care unit admittance, intubation and mortality than females irrespective of HT. The presence of HT was determined not to affect symptoms in patients diagnosed with COVID-19. The most common symptoms were fatigue, cough, body ache, fever, headache, and sore throat in HT and control groups and the symptoms were similar in both groups. Further studies are recommended to reveal the relationship between HT, considered one of the most important risk factors for COVID-19, and adverse outcomes related to COVID-19.