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Background and objectives: Although several repurposed antiviral drugs have been used for the treatment of COVID-19, only a few such as remdesivir and molnupiravir have shown promising effects. The objectives of our study were to investigate the association of repurposed antiviral drugs with COVID-19 morbidity. Methods: Patients admitted to 26 different hospitals located in 16 different provinces between March 11-July 18, 2020, were enrolled. Case definition was based on WHO criteria. Patients were managed according to the guidelines by Scientific Board of Ministry of Health of Turkey. Primary outcomes were length of hospitalization, intensive care unit (ICU) requirement, and intubation. Results: We retrospectively evaluated 1,472 COVID-19 adult patients; 57.1% were men (mean age = 51.9 ± 17.7years). A total of 210 (14.3%) had severe pneumonia, 115 (7.8%) were admitted to ICUs, and 69 (4.7%) were intubated during hospitalization. The median (interquartile range) of duration of hospitalization, including ICU admission, was 7 (5-12) days. Favipiravir (n = 328), lopinavir/ritonavir (n = 55), and oseltamivir (n = 761) were administered as antiviral agents, and hydroxychloroquine (HCQ, n = 1,382) and azithromycin (n = 738) were used for their immunomodulatory activity. Lopinavir/ritonavir (ß [95% CI]: 4.71 [2.31-7.11]; p = 0.001), favipiravir (ß [95% CI]: 3.55 [2.56-4.55]; p = 0.001) and HCQ (ß [95% CI]: 0.84 [0.02-1.67]; p = 0.046) were associated with increased risk of lengthy hospital stays. Furthermore, favipiravir was associated with increased risks of ICU admission (OR [95% CI]: 3.02 [1.70-5.35]; p = 0.001) and invasive mechanical ventilation requirement (OR [95% CI]: 2.94 [1.28-6.75]; p = 0.011). Conclusion: Our findings demonstrated that antiviral drugs including lopinavir, ritonavir, and favipiravir were associated with negative clinical outcomes such as increased risks for lengthy hospital stay, ICU admission, and invasive mechanical ventilation requirement. Therefore, repurposing such agents without proven clinical evidence might not be the best approach for COVID-19 treatment.
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19-related death rate varies between countries and is affected by various risk factors. This multicenter registry study was designed to evaluate the mortality rate and the related risk factors in Turkey. We retrospectively evaluated 1500 adults with COVID-19 from 26 centers who were hospitalized between March 11 and July 31, 2020. In the study group, 1041 and 459 cases were diagnosed as definite and highly probable cases, respectively. There were 993 PCR-positive cases (66.2%). Among all cases, 1144 (76.3%) were diagnosed with non-severe pneumonia, whereas 212 (14.1%) had severe pneumonia. Death occurred in 67 patients, corresponding to a mortality rate of 4.5% (95% CI:3.5-5.6). The univariate analysis demonstrated that various factors, including male sex, age ≥65 years and the presence of dyspnea or confusion, malignity, chronic obstructive lung disease, interstitial lung disease, immunosuppressive conditions, severe pneumonia, multiorgan dysfunction, and sepsis, were positively associated with mortality. Favipiravir, hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin were not associated with survival. Following multivariate analysis, male sex, severe pneumonia, multiorgan dysfunction, malignancy, sepsis and interstitial lung diseases were found to be independent risk factors for mortality. Among the biomarkers, procalcitonin levels on the 3rd-5th days of admission showed the strongest associations with mortality (OR: 6.18; 1.6-23.93). This study demonstrated that the mortality rate in hospitalized patients in the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic was a serious threat and that those patients with male sex, severe pneumonia, multiorgan dysfunction, malignancy, sepsis and interstitial lung diseases were at increased risk of mortality; therefore, such patients should be closely monitored.
Subject(s)
COVID-19/mortality , Pandemics , Population Surveillance , Aged , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Retrospective Studies , Risk Factors , Survival Rate/trends , Turkey/epidemiologyABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: The importance of the evaluation of health status in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is recently highlighted in many studies. In this study, we aimed to test the validity and reliability of the Turkish version of St. George Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ). MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was conducted in seven centers in Turkey. Three hundred and twenty one COPD patients (40-75 years) were included to the study. Turkish versions of breathlessness, Cough, and Sputum Scale (BCSS), mMRC (Modified Medical Research Council) dyspnea scale, SGRQ, COPD assessment test (CAT) and Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) were carried out to the patients. The statistical analysis of SGRQ was performed by using the coefficient of internal consistency, discriminative analysis for different stages and the correlation with the other scales. RESULTS: The mean age was 62.4 ± 8.9 years and the mean FEV1 was 51.9 ± 19.2% pred. The coefficient of internal consistency (Cronbach alpha) was 0.8815. The correlation between the total score measured initially and that obtained two weeks later was found to be highly significant (r= 0.90, p< 0.0001). According the results of validation of both total score and the components of SGRQ, the correlation between the total score of SGRQ and CAT was 0.782 (p< 0.0001), SGRQ and SF-36 was between -0.481 ile -0.819 (p< 0.0001). The total and component scores were able to discriminate different disease stages and a significant correlation was found to be with pulmonary function tests. CONCLUSION: SGRQ Turkish version is a reliable and valid assessment tool for COPD patients in clinical practice.
