Hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malaria drug which US President Donald Trump called a “game changer” against COVID-19, is not effective against the disease, according to a study which raises concerns about the drug’s widespread usage by many governments across the world in fighting the pandemic.
The yet to be peer-reviewed study, published in the preprintserver medRxiv, made a retrospective analysis of patients hospitalised withCOVID-19 in all the Veterans Health Administration medical centers across theUS.
The scientists, including those from the University of SouthCarolina in the US, analysed the associations between the use of drugshydroxychloroquine, azithromycin, and corresponding clinical outcomes.
According to the researchers, hydroxychloroquine, alone orin combination with azithromycin, is being widely used in COVID-19 therapybased on anecdotal evidence.
In the study, the scientists assessed data on patientshospitalised with confirmed infection with the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2,in all United States Veterans Health Administration medical centers until April11.
They categorised 368 patients based on their exposure tohydroxychloroquine alone, or with azithromycin, in addition to standardsupportive management for COVID-19.
The two primary outcomes noted in the study were death, andthe need for mechanical ventilation.
Based on the findings, the scientists said there is noevidence that use of hydroxychloroquine reduced the risk of mechanicalventilation in patients hospitalized with COVID-19.
The scientists said they took into account the variation inthe baseline characteristics of the patients across the three groups.
“Hydroxychloroquine use with or withoutco-administration of azithromycin did not improve mortality or reduce the needfor mechanical ventilation in hospitalized patients,” the scientists wrotein the study.
On the contrary, they said, hydroxychloroquine use alone wasassociated with an increased risk of death compared to standard care alone.
“Although ongoing randomized, controlled studies areexpected to provide more informative evidence about hydroxychloroquine in thecoming months, the outcomes observed in our study represent the best availabledata,” the researchers wrote in the study.
Some limitations of the research, mentioned by thescientists, include the possibility of selection bias of study participants.
They said the study comprised only men whose median age wasover 65 years, adding that the results may not necessarily reflect outcomes inwomen or in younger hospitalized populations.”The findings from this retrospective studysuggest caution in using hydroxychloroquine in hospitalized Covid-19 patients,particularly when not combined with azithromycin,” the researchersconcluded.