Abstract: Acta Medica 2022; 53(1): 73-82 acta medica ORIGINAL ARTICLE Comparison of Favipiravir to Hydroxychloroquine Plus Azithromycin in the Treatment of Patients with Non-critical COVID-19: A Singlecenter, Retrospective, Propensity Score-matched Study Oğuz Abdullah Uyaroğlu1 ORCID: 0000-0003-0440-2026 Meliha Çağla Sönmezer2 ORCID: 0000-0001-6529-5282 Gülçin Telli Dizman2 ORCID: 0000-0001-8195-3345 Nursel Çalık Başaran1 ORCID: 0000-0002-1290-6905 Sevilay Karahan3 ORCID: 0000-0002-8692-7266 Ömrüm Uzun2 ORCID: 0000-0003-4721-0139 Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Section of General Internal Medicine, Ankara, Turkey. 1 Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Disease, Ankara, Turkey. 2 Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Biostatistics, Ankara, Turkey. ABSTRACT Objectives: In this study, we compared the clinical outcomes and effects of the treatments on laboratory parameters between patients who were treated with favipiravir (FAV) or hydroxychloroquine plus azithromycin (HCQ/AZ) for COVID-19 pneumonia in non-Intensive Care Unit (non-ICU) patients. Methods: We collected data of 260 moderate or severe COVID-19 patients hospitalized in COVID-19 wards between March 20, 2020, and September 30, 2020 retrospectively. We used propensity score matching to evaluate treatment effect on laboratory parameters of COVID-19 infection. Results: We compared 42 patients using FAV and 42 HCQ/AZ after propensity score matching. While there were statistical differences between the therapy groups in terms of transfer to ICU and/or exitus before matching (p=0.031), this was not significant after propensity analysis (p=0.250). Patients treated with FAV stayed in the hospital nearly one more day than HCQ/AZ group but the difference was not statistically significant (9.02 days vs 8.14 days, p=0.903). The levels of AST,ALT, and LDH increased at discharge in both groups, especially in the FAV group. Conclusions: FAV is not superior to HCQ/AZ in the treatment of COVID-19 infection in hospitalized patients with pneumonia. 3 Keywords: COVID-19, hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin, favipiravir, propensity-matched analysis Corresponding Author: Oğuz Abdullah Uyaroğlu Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Section of General Internal Medicine, Ankara, Turkey. E-mail: oguzuyaroglu@hotmail.com Received: 15 December 2021, Accepted: 25 January 2022, Published online: 10 March 2022 © 2022 Acta Medica. 73 Favipiravir Against Hydroxychloroquine Plus Azithromycin