Table 1 GRADE evidence profile of selected studies [12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21]

Summary of findings

Study (year)

Settings

Study design

Grading of Hypertension

Duration of follow-up

Secondary outcomes (comorbidities)

Hazard ratio (95% CI)

Lee et al. (2020) [13]

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Korea)

Retrospective cohort

Minimal grade 1

2 months

Diabetes mellitus, cancer, COPD, stroke, coronary artery disease, heart failure, chronic renal disease

1.07 (0.68–1.68)

ACEi/ARB, 7289

ACEi/ ARB, 50

Li et al. (2020) [12]

Central Hospital of Wuhan (China)

Retrospective cohort

Minimal grade 1

2 months

Cerebrovascular disease, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic kidney disease

0.76 (0.44–1.33)

ACEi/ARB, 115

ACEi/ ARB, 21

Mehra et al. (2020) [14]

Multihospital International Registry (Asia, Europe, and North America)

Retrospective cohort

Minimal grade 1

n/a

Heart disease, diabetes mellitus, COPD

0.24 (0.17–0.33)

ACEi/ARB, 1426

ACEi/ ARB, 54

Meng et al. (2020) [17]

Shenzhen Third People’s Hospital (China)

Retrospective cohort

Grade 2 or grade 3 hypertension according to ESC

n/a

Type 2 diabetes or coronary heart disease

0.46 (0.018–12.14)

ACEi/ARB, 17

ACEi/ ARB, 0

Yang et al. (2020) [20]

Hubei Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine (China)

Retrospective cohort

Minimal grade 1

3 months

Diabetes or cardiopathy

0.35 (0.08–1.51)

ACEi/ARB, 43

ACEi/ARB, 2

Zhou et al. [18] (2020)

Wuhan Fourth Hospital, Hubei Province (China)

Retrospective cohort

Minimal grade 1

25 days

Diabetes, cerebrovascular disease, cardiovascular disease, COPD, chronic kidney disease, malignancy, rheumatoid arthritis

0.14 (0.009–2.2)

ACEi/ARB, 15

ACEi/ARB, 2

Fosbol et al. (2020) [16]

Danish national administrative registry (Denmark)

Retrospective cohort

Minimal grade 1

End of study period (4 May 2020)

Diabetes, myocardial infarction, cancer, cerebrovascular diseases, COPD, chronic kidney diseases

0.94 (0.65–1.37)

ACEi/ARB, 895

ACEi/ARB, 161

Pan et al. (2020) [21]

Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University (China)

Retrospective single-center study

Minimal grade 1

30 days

Diabetes, coronary heart diseases, cerebrovascular diseases, chronic liver disease, chronic kidney disease

0.31 (0.1–0.89)

ACEi/ARB, 41

ACEi/ARB, 4

Reynolds et al. (2020) [15]

New York University Langone Health (New York)

Retrospective cohort

Minimal grade 1

40 days

Heart failure, myocardial infarction, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, obstructive lung disease

0.97 (0.79–1.19)

ACEi/ARB, 1019

ACEi/ARB, 252

Zhang et al (2020) [19]

Hubei’s Nine Hospital (China)

Retrospective cohort

Minimal grade 1

1 month

Diabetes, cardiac, or renal diseases

0.34 (0.14–0.83)

ACEi/ARB, 174

ACEi/ARB, 7