New Paper: Comparative Analytical Study of Two Different Drug Regimens in Treatment of Covid 19 Positive Patients in Index Medical College Hospital and Research Center, Indore, India

[-] TehCaster | 2 points | Apr 05 2021 23:32:19

An observation study on 100 Covid 19 positive patients having age between 20-60 years of either sex was conducted from April to May 2020. Patients below 20 years of and above 60 years of age and having chronic conditions like hypertension, diabetes and others were excluded. Group 1 received oral hydroxychloroquine 400 mg twice a day with azithromycin 500 mg once a day. Both medications were given by per oral route for a period of 7 days. Group 2 received hydroxychloroquine 400 mg twice a day with azithromycin 500 mg once a day and ivermectin 12 mg once a day. All medications were given by per oral route for a period of 7 days.Results: Mean age of patients in Group 1 and Group 2 was 37.62 ± 11.609 years and 38.20±11.73 years respectively (p=0.804). No significant difference was obtained between the SpO2 concentration (p=0.778). When we did final the COVID-19 testing, it showed that majority of the patients were found negative in the group 2, whereas 94% were found to be positive in the group 1. This difference was statistically significant with the p value of <0.001. Conclusion: The treatment with HCQ, azithromycin, and ivermectin had a better success rate compared to HCQ and azithromycin. Based on the results, ivermectin could be the potential therapeutic agents for the COVID-19 disease. The study had various limitations; so further randomized controlled trial is required for the results to be implemented on the larger population.

[-] TehCaster | 2 points | Apr 06 2021 00:01:41

Possible confounding factors:

- Group 1 was treated in April, Group 2 (including IVM) in May.

Patients came after +ve PCR test, after some time since the test got treatment, after some more time were tested again. If I understand correctly:

Group 1 had \~3.14 days between 1st test and start of treatment, then 7.24 days until 2nd test.

Group 2 had \~2.12 days between 1st test and start of treatment, then 5.22 days until 2nd test.

So, possibly earlier treatment favours IVM group, but then shorter time until 2nd test works against IVM.

There was a significant difference in symptoms, the IVM group were 70% asymptomatic, while only 8% in the non-IVM group. The paper doesn't say explicitly if this was at the time of admission or including the treatment. But they say "This may be a confounding factor in the results interpretation" which suggests that the IVM group was indeed milder at the beginning and yeah, that makes it much harder to attribute the faster viral clearance to IVM :/

[-] magebane1 | 0 points | Apr 06 2021 00:32:37

I think this shows that while HCQ is effective the window is much smaller and because this is a Hospital study, we're seeing where HCQ falls off and IVM continues to be effective in later stages of the disease.

[-] TehCaster | 2 points | Apr 06 2021 07:42:30

Hm but asymptomatic people don't go to hospitals?

[-] magebane1 | 1 points | Apr 06 2021 23:11:40

Yeah a bit confusing because it almost implies they went to the hospital because their condition was worsening, (as here you would do if things were really bad).

---from paper---

We conducted an observation study on 100 Covid 19 positive patients having age between 20-60 years of either sex at Index Medical College Hospital and Research Centre, Indore, India from April 2020 to May 2020 after dividing them in to Group 1 (n=50 Covid 19 positive patients treated in Index hospital in month of April 2020) and Group 2 (n=50 Covid 19 positive patients treated in indexhospital in month of May 2020) Patients below 20 and above 60 years of age and having chronic conditions like hypertension diabetes and others were excluded