Research Says: Even After Booster Dose High BP Can Double the Risk of Omicron

New York | Having high blood pressure can doubles the risk of hospitalization due to an Omicron-variant infection, despite receiving a booster dose of COVID vaccines. A new research has concluded this, according to the research findings Hypertension journal publishes, individuals with high BP are 2.6 times more likely to need hospitalization after severe covid infection, even if they do not have any pre-existing serious illness.

Lead author Joseph E. Ebbinger, assistant professor of Cardiology at the Centre’s Schmidt Heart Institute, said: “While a breakthrough Omicron infection can cause serious hospitalization, it can occur to an adult of any age, especially if a person have high blood pressure, even if they do not have any other major chronic disease”.

Researchers conducted a retrospective study of 912 adults who had received at least three doses of the MRNA COVID vaccineand treated COVID-19 during the Omicron case surge between December 2021 and April 2022.

The analysis found that of the 912 adults who received three doses of the MRNA COVID vaccine, about 16 percent required hospitalization. Out of 145 hospitalized patients, 125 (86.2%) had high BP.

Ebbinger said, “We need to increase awareness and understanding that receiving three doses of a vaccine will not prevent severe COVID-19 in all, especially people with high blood pressure. We need to understand the relationship between COVID-19 and high blood pressure. More research is needed to understand this”.

The researchers said that further studies are focused on how to reduce the risk of serious Covid infections.