ACE2 and hypertensive disorder: In support of the pathophysiological importance of this functional imbalance there is also epidemiological evidence that the mortality rate of elderly COVID-19 patients with high blood pressure, diabetes and cardiovascular pathologies that already have an ACE/Ang II/AT1R axis hyperactivation and a down-regulation of the ACE2/Ang-(1-7)/MasR axis, is higher than other patients with SARS-CoV-2 related infection (153).