Letter to the Editor regarding Could pulmonary arterial hypertension patients be at lower risk from severe COVID-19?

摘要

It was with great interest and some concern we read the recently published paper “Could pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) patients be at lower risk from severe COVID-19.”1 In this paper, the authors quote an electronic survey of the Pulmonary Hypertension Association (PHA) centers conducted in March 2020, which only yielded 13 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in known PAH patients. Based on these results, they speculate that PAH patients may have an attenuated COVID-19 course due to potential protective features of PAH-targeted therapies (endothelin receptor antagonists, phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitor (PDE) inhibitors or prostanoids). We are concerned about the possible detrimental effects misinterpretation of this message could have to the PAH community. These assumptions were based on little data at an early stage of the pandemic in the US, and the resulting speculations could mislead and put PAH patients at higher risk. SARS-CoV2 and its related illness can have devastating effects on those with pre-existing medical conditions including PAH, and assuming protective effects of their medical therapy may lead PAH patients to altering their behavior by providing a false sense of security.