COVID-19: Administering hydroxychloroquine increases risk of dying – Study

Despite the rush for hydroxychloroquine as a supposed remedy for COVID-19, a study of nearly 100,000 patients has shown that there is no benefit in treating them with anti-viral drugs. The study, published on Friday in The Lancet, revealed that hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine may even increase the likelihood of patients dying in hospital. Hydroxychloroquine which […]

Despite the rush for hydroxychloroquine as a supposed remedy for COVID-19, a study of nearly 100,000 patients has shown that there is no benefit in treating them with anti-viral drugs.

The study, published on Friday in The Lancet, revealed that hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine may even increase the likelihood of patients dying in hospital.

Hydroxychloroquine which is normally used to treat arthritis gained popularity with pronouncements from public figures such as the US President, Donald Trump, who announced he was taking the drug.

Chloroquine is an anti-malarial. Both drugs can produce potentially serious side effects, particularly heart arrhythmia.

The study further revealed that neither drug benefitted patients hospitalised with COVID-19.

Looking at the records of 96,000 patients across 100 hospitals, it was found that administering the drugs actually increased the risk of dying.

The researchers compared outcomes from four groups: those treated with hydroxychloroquine alone, with chloroquine alone, and then two groups given the respective drugs in combination with antibiotics.

There was also a controlled group of patients not given these treatments.

At the end of the study period, around nine per cent of those in the controlled group had died; of those treated with hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine alone, 18 per cent, and 16.4 per cent respectively died.

And those given each drug in combination with antibiotics were even more likely to die: 22.8 per cent with chloroquine and 23.8 per cent with hydroxychloroquine.

The authors estimated that the drugs put patients at up to 45 per cent higher risk of dying from COVID-19 compared with underlying health issues.

The lead author of the study and Executive Director of Brigham and Women’s Hospital Centre for Advanced Heart Disease in Boston, Mandeep Mehra, stated that treatment with chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine did not benefit patients with COVID-19.

Mehra said, “Instead, our findings suggest it may be associated with an increased risk of serious heart problems and increased risk of death.”

Despite Trump’s enthusiasm for using hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19 treatment, his own government’s Food and Drug Administration warned against it.

Also, the Chairman of the PTF on COVID-19 and Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, said the task force had received reports from the surveillance system it set up that Nigerians had been purchasing hydroxychloroquine in large quantities to treat the virus.

While warning against self-medication, he said, “We wish to reiterate that this drug has not been certified for use in treating COVID-19 in Nigeria by the relevant health and pharmaceutical authorities.”

Stephen Griffin, an associate professor at the University of Leeds’ School of Medicine, said the Lancet research was “potentially a landmark study for COVID-19 therapy.”

Griffin added that, “The indications are that these drugs certainly ought not to be used outside of a trial setting where patients can be monitored for complications. It is clear that high profile endorsements of taking these drugs without clinical oversight is both misguided and irresponsible.”