ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has plagued the world for more than 1 year now and has resulted in over 77 million cases and 1.7 million related deaths. While we await the rollout of the vaccines, new treatments are urgently needed to reduce the effects of this devastating virus. Here, we describe a number of preclinical studies which show promising effects of the polyphenol resveratrol.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Humans , Pandemics , Resveratrol/therapeutic use , SARS-CoV-2ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: We examined the safety and efficacy of a treatment protocol containing Favipiravir for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2. METHODS: We did a multicenter randomized open-labeled clinical trial on moderate to severe cases infections of SARS-CoV-2. Patients with typical ground glass appearance on chest computerized tomography scan (CT scan) and oxygen saturation (SpO2) of less than 93% were enrolled. They were randomly allocated into Favipiravir (1.6 gr loading, 1.8 gr daily) and Lopinavir/Ritonavir (800/200 mg daily) treatment regimens in addition to standard care. In-hospital mortality, ICU admission, intubation, time to clinical recovery, changes in daily SpO2 after 5 min discontinuation of supplemental oxygen, and length of hospital stay were quantified and compared in the two groups. RESULTS: 380 patients were randomly allocated into Favipiravir (193) and Lopinavir/Ritonavir (187) groups in 13 centers. The number of deaths, intubations, and ICU admissions were not significantly different (26, 27, 31 and 21, 17, 25 respectively). Mean hospital stay was also not different (7.9 days [SD = 6] in the Favipiravir and 8.1 [SD = 6.5] days in Lopinavir/Ritonavir groups) (p = 0.61). Time to clinical recovery in the Favipiravir group was similar to Lopinavir/Ritonavir group (HR = 0.94, 95% CI 0.75 - 1.17) and likewise the changes in the daily SpO2 after discontinuation of supplemental oxygen (p = 0.46) CONCLUSION: Adding Favipiravir to the treatment protocol did not reduce the number of ICU admissions or intubations or In-hospital mortality compared to Lopinavir/Ritonavir regimen. It also did not shorten time to clinical recovery and length of hospital stay.
Subject(s)
Amides/administration & dosage , Amides/adverse effects , Antiviral Agents/administration & dosage , Antiviral Agents/adverse effects , COVID-19 Drug Treatment , Pyrazines/administration & dosage , Pyrazines/adverse effects , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Drug Therapy, Combination , Female , Humans , Hydroxychloroquine/administration & dosage , Hydroxychloroquine/adverse effects , Intubation , Kaplan-Meier Estimate , Length of Stay , Lopinavir/administration & dosage , Lopinavir/adverse effects , Male , Middle Aged , Oxygen/blood , Ritonavir/administration & dosage , Ritonavir/adverse effects , Severity of Illness Index , Treatment Outcome , Young AdultABSTRACT
AIM: To describe the epidemiological and clinical characteristics along with outcomes of hospitalized Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients with and without diabetes. METHODS: This retrospective, single-center study included 595 consecutive hospitalized patients with confirmed COVID-19 at Baqiyatallah Hospital in Tehran, Iran, from February 26, 2020 to March 26, 2020. Demographic data, clinical, laboratory, and radiological findings were collected and compared between patients based on diabetes status. Complications and clinical outcomes were followed up until April 4, 2020. RESULTS: From among the 595 hospitalized patients with COVID-19, the median age was 55 years and 401 (67.4%) were male. The most common symptoms included fever (419 [70.4%]), dry cough (368 [61.8%]) and dyspnea (363 [61%]). A total of 148 patients (24.9%) had diabetes, and compared with patients without diabetes, these patients had more comorbidities (eg, hypertension [48.6% vs. 22.3%; P < 0.001]); had higher levels of white blood cell count, neutrophil count, C-reactive protein, erythrocyte sedimentation rate and blood urea nitrogen, and had a higher proportion of patchy ground-glass opacity in chest computed tomography findings (52.7% vs. 25.7%; P < 0.001). Significantly, patients with diabetes had more complications and needed more respiratory support than those without diabetes (P < 0.001). At the end of the follow-up, treatment failure and death was significantly higher in patients with diabetes compared to those without diabetes (17.8% vs. 8.7%; P = 0.003). CONCLUSION: COVID-19 patients with diabetes are at a higher risk of complications and a higher in-hospital mortality during hospitalization. Diabetes status of COVID-19 patients and frequent monitoring of glycemia would be helpful to prevent deteriorating clinical conditions.