Effect of combination therapy of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin on mortality in COVID-19 patients

https://doi.org/10.1111/cts.12860

A retrospective single-center cohort study including 377 consecutive patients admitted for pneumonia related to coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was conducted. Of these 297 were in combination treatment, 17 were on hydroxychloroquine alone and 63 did not receive any of these two drugs because of contraindications. The primary endpoint was in-hospital death. Mean age was 71.8+/-13.4 years and 34.2% were women. We recorded 146 deaths: 35 in no treatment, 7 in hydroxychloroquine and 102 in hydroxychloroquine + azithromycin group (log-rank test for Kaplan-Meier curve p<0.001). At multivariable Cox proportional hazard regression analysis, age (hazard ratio [HR] 1.057, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.035-1.079, p<0.001), mechanical ventilation/CPAP (HR 2.726, 95%CI 1.823-4.074, p<0.001), C Reactive Protein above the median (HR 2.191, 95%CI 1.479-3.246, p<0.001) were directly associated with death, whilst use of hydroxychloroquine + azithromycin (vs. no treatment) (HR 0.265, 95%CI 0.171-0.412, p<0.001) was inversely associated. In this study, we found a reduced in-hospital mortality in patients treated with a combination of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin after adjustment for comorbidities.

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