The social, psychological and clinical implications of the covid-19 pandemic in cardiovascular patients using angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker

ABSTRACT

Objective: The heart expresses angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE)-2 that makes it vulnerable to severe acute respiratory syn-drome-coronavirus-2. Besides ACE inhibitors/angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) are used for cardiovascular diseases. Although no sig-nificant increase in the risk of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) infection and no increase in the severity of disease in patients receving ACE inhibitor/ARB therapy were shown, it has been noticed that some patients have tendency to stop the use of these agents. The aim of this study is to determine the behavior attitude of the cardiovascular outpatients during pandemic who use ACE inhibitor/ARB and to asses the impact of COVID-19 on them. Material and Methods: One hundred outpatients were in-cluded. A survey questioning the social, psychological and the clinical implications of COVID-19 was applied to volunteers. To measure the anxiety and despair levels, Beck scorings were used. Results: A small num-ber of patients stopped using ACE inhibitors/ARBs. Severe hopelessness and severe anxiety levels were seen in a few patient. Gender, fear of get-ting sick, thinking to have enough information about COVID-19 and ac-cessibilty to cardiovascular drugs were the factors affecting the Beck scores. Social distancing and cleaning hands are stated as the best measures for protection. Most of the patients preferred primary health clinics for routine controls and a few patient had knowledge about tele-medicine. Conclusion: Although a confusion has occured in the public about the use of ACE inhibitors/ARBs, drug release rates were found to be low. The anxiety and disparity levels are subsantially not severe. But it is still impor-tant to continue informing patients about the precautions and the use of tele-medicine.