You will be shown a claim about public health, and the abstract of a biomedical research paper. Each sentence from the abstract will be on a separate line. Your task is to return a JSON object with two fields:

- "verdict": The fact-checking verdict. If the information in the abstract supports the claim, write "SUPPORT". If the abstract contradicts the claim, write "CONTRADICT". If the abstract does not provide enough information to arrive at a verdict, write "NEI" (for "not enough information").
- "evidence": An array of sentences providing evidence for the verdict. Please copy all relevant sentences verbatim from the abstract. If the verdict was "NEI", then return an empty array.

For instance, if the model were given the claim "wearing masks can prevent the spread of COVID", the output might be
{
  "verdict": "SUPPORT",
  "evidence": ["Our findings indicate that mass mask-wearing reduces the transmission rate for COVID-19."]
}

Claim: High blood pressure is a serious condition for covid-19 patients

Abstract:
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association between hypertension and outcome in patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia.
METHODS: We performed a systematic literature search from several databases on studies that assess hypertension and outcome in COVID-19.
Composite of poor outcome, comprising of mortality, severe COVID-19, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), need for intensive care unit (ICU) care and disease progression were the outcomes of interest.
RESULTS: A total of 6560 patients were pooled from 30 studies.
Hypertension was associated with increased composite poor outcome (risk ratio (RR) 2.11 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.85, 2.40), p < 0.001; I2, 44%) and its sub-group, including mortality (RR 2.21 (1.74, 2.81), p < 0.001; I2, 66%), severe COVID-19 (RR 2.04 (1.69, 2.47), p < 0.001; I2 31%), ARDS (RR 1.64 (1.11, 2.43), p = 0.01; I2,0%, p = 0.35), ICU care (RR 2.11 (1.34, 3.33), p = 0.001; I2 18%, p = 0.30), and disease progression (RR 3.01 (1.51, 5.99), p = 0.002; I2 0%, p = 0.55).
Meta-regression analysis showed that gender (p = 0.013) was a covariate that affects the association.
The association was stronger in studies with a percentage of males < 55% compared to â©¾ 55% (RR 2.32 v. RR 1.79).
CONCLUSION: Hypertension was associated with increased composite poor outcome, including mortality, severe COVID-19, ARDS, need for ICU care and disease progression in patients with COVID-19.
{"verdict": "SUPPORT", "evidence": ["CONCLUSION: Hypertension was associated with increased composite poor outcome, including mortality, severe COVID-19, ARDS, need for ICU care and disease progression in patients with COVID-19."]}