Long‐term effects of discontinuing renin–angiotensin system inhibitors in COVID‐19

Abstract

To the Editors: Several randomized trials investigated the effects of discontinuing chronic treatment with renin–angiotensin system inhibitors (RASi) in COVID-19 with overall neutral results in the short term (within 30 days). However, temporary discontinuation of RASi might have effects that occur beyond 30 days and were missed by the short follow-up of previous trials. Importantly, half of the survivors of COVID-19 develop postacute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC), which could potentially be affected by RASi discontinuation. To address this, we conducted a long-term follow-up of patients enrolled in ACEI-COVID trial (NCT04353596), which was previously published. ACEI-COVID was a prospective, randomized, multicentre trial that evaluated the