Study Design and Participants
In this retrospective cohort study, we included 198 consecutive COVID-19 patients with a history of hypertension who were admitted between December 26, 2019, and March 6, 2020, at Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University and Wuhan Fourth Hospital in Wuhan city, China. We did not exclude patients who needed to discontinue antihypertensive medications due to hypotension, not being able to take oral medicines, or had an increase in their serum creatinine level. The diagnosis of COVID-19 was according to the World Health Organization (WHO) interim guidance8. RT-PCR assay was performed to confirm the COVID-19 diagnosis when necessary, based on the WHO established protocol. The local institutional review boards approved this study, and informed consent was obtained from patients or their legal representatives.