Arrhythmic safety of hydroxychloroquine in COVID-19 patients from different clinical settings
Alessio Gasperetti, Mauro Biffi, Firat Duru, Marco Schiavone, Matteo Ziacchi, Gianfranco Mitacchione, Carlo Lavalle, Ardan Saguner, Antonio Lanfranchi, Giacomo Casalini, Marco Tocci, Davide Fabbricatore, Francesca Salghetti, Marco Valerio Mariani, Mattia Busana, Alfonso Bellia, Chiara Beatrice Cogliati, Pierluigi Viale, Spinello Antinori, Massimo Galli, Nazzareno Galiè, Claudio Tondo, Giovanni Battista Forleo
EP Europace, doi:10.1093/europace/euaa216
The aim of the study was to describe ECG modifications and arrhythmic events in COVID-19 patients undergoing hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) therapy in different clinical settings.
Conclusion HCQ administration, alone or in combination with other potentially QTc-prolonging drugs, proved safe for a short-term treatment of patients with COVID-19 infection, causing only modest QTc prolongation. Serial ECG recordings at 36-72 h and later than 96 h from treatment onset can detect QTc changes that might suggest therapy modification. This experience provides a framework to enable HCQ therapy implementation in different clinical settings for future efficacy trials.
Supplementary material Supplementary material is available at Europace online. Conflict of interest: Dr. A.S. own stocks from Gilead Science inc. The rest of authors declare no conflict of interest.
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