Efficacy and safety of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of COVID19 infection: An umbrella review

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Among all therapeutic approaches for COVID-19, most controversies have been raised about the efficacy and safety hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and chloroquine. We conducted an umbrella review to assess any potential benefits of hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine in treating COVID-19.Methods: We searched the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, PubMed and covid-evidence.org from December 2019 until July 2022. Time to viral clearance, need for mechanical ventilation and mortality were assessed as main efficacy outcomes. The analysis was performed using R package version 4.1.2.Result: Hydroxychloroquine had no benefit in decreasing time to viral clearance at days 7 (RR 0.81; 95% CI 0.63, 1.03) and 14 (RR 1.00; 95% CI 0.90, 1.139). Chloroquine has no statistically significant effect in decreasing the time of viral negativity at days 7 (RR 1.20; 95%CI 0.64, 2.25) and 14 (RR 1.08; 95%CI 0.85, 1.36). There is no difference in the need for mechanical ventilation among hydroxychloroquine plus azithromycin versus standard of care groups. Hydroxychloroquine marginally increased the mortality rate compared to placebo but not statistically significant (RR 1.09; P-value 0.05). Adding azithromycin to hydroxychloroquine had no statistically significant effect of decreasing mortality (RR 0.52; 95%CI 0.13, 2.07). Treatments with hydroxychloroquine increased the risk of adverse effects (RR 2.71; 95%CI 1.66, 4.43; p-value <0.0001). Adding azithromycin to hydroxychloroquine increased the adverse events (RR 1.74; 95% CI 1.27, 2.38). Conclusion: Though access to antivirals is an important challenge in developing countries, the decision to sus-pend hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine in treating COVID-19 appears right