New research suggests that people who use statins before hospitalization for COVID-19 were approximately 50% less likely to develop severe COVID-19 and die.
Eat These Foods to Lower Your Blood Pressure Naturally
By Sara Shulman of Country Living |
When we think about trying to lower high blood pressure, we usually think of limiting salt and processed foods. But a heart healthy diet is more than just lowering your sodium intake. The DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet, which is specifically designed to help manage blood pressure, emphasizes eating many fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy, and other fiber-rich foods.
“The DASH diet is heart healthy and is rich in foods that have a high content of calcium, magnesium, potassium, protein, and fiber,” explains Marwah Abdalla, MD, MPH, a cardiologist at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center. These nutrients are essential to lowering blood pressure naturally. That said, incorporating these cardiologist-approved foods into your diet, along with taking prescribed medication and following a regular exercise routine, can help lower your blood pr
Statins may lessen the impact COVID-19, yet another retrospective, observational study hints.
Early during the pandemic in New York City, patients who were already taking statins when they were admitted for COVID-19 were less likely to die in the hospital within the first 30 days than those who were not taking the medications (14.8% vs 26.5%; OR 0.47; 95% CI 0.36-0.62), researchers report.
The proportion of patients who required invasive mechanical ventilation in the first 30 days was numerically lower in the statin group, although the difference fell shy of statistical significance (18.6% vs 21.9%; OR 0.76; 95% CI 0.58-1.00), according to findings published online February 26, 2021, in
Nature Communications.
More of TCTMD s coverage on our COVID-19 hub.
Statin use associated with reduction in mortality of patients with severe COVID-19
People who took statins to lower cholesterol were approximately 50% less likely to die if hospitalized for COVID-19, a study by physicians at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and NewYork-Presbyterian has found. Our study is one of the larger studies confirming this hypothesis and the data lay the groundwork for future randomized clinical trials that are needed to confirm the benefit of statins in COVID-19, says Aakriti Gupta, MD, a cardiologist at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center and one of the co-lead authors of the study.