Today, the National Board of Health and Welfare published statistics on the nearly 1,700 cases so far where doctors have determined that a person died of covid-19 - a figure that may be higher as more death certificates come to the authority. The National Board of Health and Welfare states that people who were not included in the Public Health Authority's previous reporting were found, and that the difference can be as large as ten percent.

Statistics also include information on age, gender and underlying illnesses of those who have died. Ninety percent of the deceased are over 70, and half were 85 years old or older. Nearly half of them had cardiovascular disease. More than 80 percent of the deceased had high blood pressure.

Professor: Age is the risk factor - not blood pressure

SVT has spoken with Johan Sundström, cardiologist and professor of epidemiology at Uppsala University. He says it's not surprising that so many have had high blood pressure. His explanation is that it is because they have been so much older.

- Studies show that at the age of 85, 95 percent have high blood pressure. Everyone gets it sooner or later if we just get old enough, half already at retirement. If we were to compare people who did not die in covid-19 at the same age, it would probably look identical, says Johan Sundström.

So high blood pressure itself does not have to be a risk factor?

- No, not really. There is nothing to support it.

Want to research whether blood pressure lowering medicine can be protective

It has been previously discussed what, if any, the effect of antihypertensive drugs may have on the risk of becoming seriously ill in covid-19. The reason is, in short, that some medications affect the same receptors in the body that the virus attaches to in an infection.

Johan Sundström has applied for permission to study the connection by comparing databases for severe coronary illness with databases for printed blood pressure lowering medicine, and hopes to get a clear sign from the National Board of Health and Welfare shortly.

- What I think is that these drugs if anything will protect the patient. The state of knowledge is updated every day, so what we said is "continue with the medicine you have". There is nothing to suggest that something could be dangerous, but what we want to research now is whether any of them can be protective, says Johan Sundström.