Efficacy of hydroxychloroquine in patients with COVID-19: results of a randomized clinical trial
Zhaowei Chen, Jijia Hu, Zongwei Zhang, Shan Jiang, Shoumeng Han, Dandan Yan, Ruhong Zhuang, Ben Hu, Zhan Zhang
doi:10.1101/2020.03.22.20040758
Aims: Studies have indicated that chloroquine (CQ) shows antagonism against COVID-19 in vitro. However, evidence regarding its effects in patients is limited. This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) in the treatment of patients with COVID-19.
Main methods: From February 4 to February 28, 2020, 62 patients suffering from COVID-19 were diagnosed and admitted to Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University. All participants were randomized in a parallel-group trial, 31 patients were assigned to receive an additional 5-day HCQ (400 mg/d) treatment, Time to clinical recovery (TTCR), clinical characteristics, and radiological results were assessed at baseline and 5 days after treatment to evaluate the effect of HCQ.
Key findings: For the 62 COVID-19 patients, 46.8% (29 of 62) were male and 53.2% (33 of 62) were female, the mean age was 44.7 (15.3) years. No difference in the age and sex distribution between the control group and the HCQ group. But for TTCR, the body temperature recovery time and the cough .
Ethics approval and consent to participate The clinical research protocol was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee in Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University (Wuhan, China). All research procedures adhered to the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki. This trial has been registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, the unique identifier: ChiCTR2000029559.
Conflict of Interest Disclosures All authors declare no competing interests.
Author Contributions ZZ designed this study and major in the clinical management of patients, data collection, data analysis, and writing of the first draft. ZC and JH improved the data analysis and finished the manuscript. SJ helped the clinical management of patients. SH had roles in data collection and interpretation. ZZ and DY had roles in data analysis and data interpretation, RZ and BH helped the data collection. All authors reviewed and approved the final version of the manuscript.
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