A large French study concludes that treatment with hydroxychloroquine allows patients to be discharged from hospital earlier, without reducing the mortality rate.
- Chloroquine allows a 25% increase in the chances of leaving the hospital before the others
- The study found no statistically significant difference for 28-day mortality, indicating that chloroquine does not reduce mortality in infected patients
The soap opera chloroquine is experiencing a new episode. After several studies showed the ineffectiveness of chloroquine-based treatments for treating patients infected with Covid-19, the World Health Organization (WHO) banned clinical trials and the United States revoked authorized for emergency use in hospital, a new study has shown benefits of the treatment.
25% chance of getting out of the hospital faster
Patients hospitalized because of Covid-19 are likely to be discharged from hospital faster than others. “Significantly higher hospital discharge rates were observed in patients treated with hydroxychloroquine”, concludes the study published in MedRxiv, a pre-publication review. The rate of patients who returned home 28 days after the start of treatment is 11 points higher than those who did not receive this drug. This represents a 25% increase in the chances of leaving the hospital before others.
This study was carried out by analyzing the medical records of approximately 4,642 patients hospitalized for Covid-19 in one of the 39 AP-HP hospitals between 1er February and April 6. The researchers excluded those who had received another drug currently being tested against the coronavirus, such as the antiviral remdesivir or the immunosuppressants tocilizumab and sarilumab. Émilie Sbidian, researcher, dermatologist at the Henri-Mondor hospital in Créteil and one of the authors of this study, stressed to AFP the need to carry out other studies in order to confirm this result.
No effect on mortality
In addition, this study made it possible to affirm, and thus confirm previous research, the lack of efficacy of this treatment in reducing mortality. This study found “the absence of a statistically significant difference for mortality at 28 days” between patients who received hydroxychloroquine and the control group, “after controlling for confounding factors”. “Regarding the data from our study, it can thus be seen that patients on hydroxychloroquine or hydroxychloroquine/azithromycin had higher rates of obesity, diabetes and smoking (poor prognostic factors) of around 5% to 15%. , but that they were also much younger than the patients not treated with hydroxychloroquine (on the order of 6 to 8 years younger), which can also greatly influence the results since the mortality of the coronavirus infection is all the more important as the age increases”, specifies Émilie Sbidian, quoted by AFP.
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