Study: Hypertension doubles risk of hospitalization from omicron variant

Hypertension more than doubles the risk of hospitalization related to omicron infection, even in people who are fully vaccinated and boosted, according to a new study by researchers at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles. 
 
“We were surprised to learn that many people who were hospitalized with COVID-19 had hypertension and no other risk factors,” said Susan Cheng, M.D., director of the Institute for Research on Healthy Aging at Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai. “This is concerning when you consider that almost half of American adults have high blood pressure.”
 
Joseph Ebinger, M.D., lead author of the study, said, “The take-home message is that avoiding infection is extremely important — even when the circulating viral variant is presumed to cause mild disease in most people.”