Hypertension drug may help treat severe Covid, study says

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is potentially a fatal condition involving lung damage, and experts associate it with Covid-19.

Most of the fatalities are caused due to ARDS, and there is a lack of treatment for severe Covid-19-associated ARDS.

A recent study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, has found that metoprolol can reduce lung inflammation and improve respiratory function in people with Covid-19-induced ARDS.

What is Metoprolol? It is a common beta-blocker designed to treat high blood pressure, and it could prove to be the drug to treat severe Covid-19.

The Covid infection triggers an immune response that aims to fight the disease, but in cases of severe Covid, excessive activation of the immune system may occur, causing ARDS and other complications.

According to a report in Medical News Today – a team of researchers at the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III (CNIC) has shown that the beta-blocker metoprolol can reduce lung inflammation and improve blood oxygen levels in Covid-19 patients with ARDS. The results were taken from a small pilot study.