[Renin angiotensin (RA) system inhibitors in Patients with COVID-19]

The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic that appeared suddenly in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, at the end of 2019 and quickly swept the world, has continued to increase with more than 13 4 million people infected and 580,000 deaths as of July 16, 2020 There is no way to see the end of the disease With the lifting of the declaration of a state of emergency, however, the number of cases in Japan is on the rise again, particularly in urban areas such as Tokyo, although the number of cases decreased in May It has been hypothesized that renin-angiotensin (RA) inhibitors, such as angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) and angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, may increase the risk of COVID-19 infection and adversely affect the severity of the disease and mortality in the COVID-19 epidemic It has spread not only to doctors, but also to patients and the general public via the Internet and mass media I am sure I am not the only one who feared that this hypothesis, if true, would be a serious problem I would like to consider the possibility of a second or third wave, and how to deal with RA inhibitors as the era of with COVID-19 is expected to continue for a long time to come