Hydroxychloroquine for Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients: More Data is Needed

Since the coronavirus disease 2019 global pandemic began, researchers, doctors, scientists, and various other medical professionals have spent countless hours striving to understand COVID-19’s epidemiology, spread, contagions, cures, and of course, therapeutic treatments to aid those infected and hospitalized.

As part of that process, hydroxychloroquine (a disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug used to treat malaria, lupus, and other ailments like rheumatoid arthritis), has been widely used and administered to patients who have been hospitalized with COVID-19. All of this has happened without any robust evidence to support its use or prove its ability to aid patients infected with COVID-19.

Recently, a study—which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine—sought to examine the association between hydroxychloroquine use and respiratory failure at a large medical center in New York City providing care to an even larger number of patients with COVID-19.

The study postulates that hydroxychloroquine could be associated with a lower risk of a composite endpoint of intubation or death.

So, what were the results of that study? Continue reading to learn more.

The Study: The Methodology Behind the Study

The researchers behind this study chose to examine the association between using hydroxychloroquine on in-hospital patients diagnosed with COVID-19 with the use of intubation or death. This study took place at a large medical center in New York City that was treating a large number of COVID-19-infected patients.

Data was observed regarding consecutive patients hospitalized with COVID-19 but excluded those who were intubated, died, or discharged within 24 hours after presentation to the emergency department—the factor that serves as this study’s baseline. Of the total number of consecutive patients —1,446 to be exact—70 total patients were intubated, died, or discharged within that baseline described and were therefore excluded from the study.

As a result, the remaining 1,376 patients received hydroxychloroquine in the form of 600 mg twice on day 1, then 400 mg daily for a median of 5 days. Of these patients, 45.8 percent of them were treated within 24 hours of the baseline and the remaining 85.9 were treated within 48 hours of that baseline.

It’s vital to note that hydroxychloroquine-treated patients were more severely ill at that baseline than other patients who did not receive hydroxychloroquine.

The Results of the Study: What Happened? 

Of the 1,376 patients tested, a total of 346 patients (25.1 percent of the total) had a primary end-point event. Of the total, 180 patients were intubated, and of those, 66 subsequently died. Another 166 patients died without intubation.

The study found there to be no significant association between hydroxychloroquine use and intubation or death. It was not associated with a greatly lowered or an increased risk of the composite endpoint (which was considered intubation or death).

Overall, the study proves that randomized, controlled rails of hydroxychloroquine in patients with COVID-19 are needed to confirm or deny its efficacy.