Fourteen-days Evolution of COVID-19 Symptoms During the Third Wave in Non-vaccinated Subjects and Effects of Hesperidin Therapy: A randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled study.

COVID-19 symptoms can cause substantial disability, yet no therapy can currently reduce their frequency or duration. We conducted a double-blind placebo-controlled trial of hesperidin 1000 mg once-daily for 14 days in 216 symptomatic non-vaccinated COVID-19 subjects. Thirteen symptoms were recorded after 3, 7, 10 and 14 days. The primary endpoint was the proportion of subjects with any of four cardinal (group A) symptoms: fever, cough, shortness of breath or anosmia. At baseline, symptoms in decreasing frequency were: cough (53.2%), weakness (44.9%), headache (42.6%), pain (35.2%), sore throat (28.7%), runny nose (26.9%), chills (22.7%), shortness of breath (22.2%), anosmia (18.5%), fever (16.2%), diarrhea (6.9%), nausea/vomiting (6.5%) and irritability/confusion (3.2%). Group A symptoms in the placebo vs hesperidin group was 88.8% vs 88.5% (day 1) and reduced to 58.5 vs 49.4 % at day 14 (OR 0.69, 95% CI 0.38-1.27, p = 0.23). At day 14, 15 subjects in the placebo group and 28 in the hesperidin group failed to report their symptoms. In an attrition bias analysis imputing "no symptoms" to missing values, the hesperidin group shows reduction of 14.5 % of group A symptoms from 50.9% to 36.4% (OR: 0.55, 0.32-0.96, p = 0.03). Anosmia, the most frequent persisting symptom (29.3%), was lowered by 7.3% at 25.3 % in the hesperidin group vs 32.6% in the placebo group (p = 0.29). Mean number of symptoms in placebo and hesperidin was 5.10 {+/-} 2.26 vs 5.48 {+/-} 2.35 (day 1) and 1.40 {+/-} 1.65 vs 1.38 {+/-} 1.76 (day 14) (p = 0.92). In conclusion, most non-vaccinated COVID-19 infected subjects remain symptomatic after 14 days with anosmia being the most frequently persisting symptom. Hesperidin 1g daily may help reduce group A symptoms. Earlier treatment of longer duration and/or higher dosage should be tested.

Genetics of symptom remission in outpatients with COVID-19

We conducted a genome-wide association study of time to remission of COVID-19 symptoms in 1723 outpatients with at least one risk factor for disease severity from the COLCORONA clinical trial. We found a significant association at 5p13.3 (rs1173773; P = 4.94 x 10-8) near the natriuretic peptide receptor 3 gene (NPR3). By day 15 of the study, 44%, 54% and 59% of participants with 0, 1, or 2 copies of the effect allele respectively, had symptom remission. In 851 participants not treated with colchicine (placebo), there was a significant association at 9q33.1 (rs62575331; P = 2.95 x 10-8) in interaction with colchicine (P = 1.19 x 10-5) without impact on risk of hospitalisations, highlighting a possibly shared mechanistic pathway. By day 15 of the study, 46%, 62% and 64% of those with 0, 1, or 2 copies of the effect allele respectively, had symptom remission. The findings need to be replicated and could contribute to the biological understanding of COVID-19 symptom remission.

Efficacy of Colchicine in Non-Hospitalized Patients with COVID-19

BackgroundEvidence suggests the role of an inflammatory storm in COVID-19 complications. Colchicine is an orally administered, anti-inflammatory medication beneficial in gout, pericarditis and coronary disease. MethodsWe performed a randomized, double-blind trial involving non-hospitalized patients with COVID-19 diagnosed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing or clinical criteria. The patients were randomly assigned to receive colchicine (0.5 mg twice daily for 3 days and once daily thereafter) or placebo for 30 days. The primary efficacy endpoint was the composite of death or hospitalization for COVID-19. ResultsA total of 4488 patients were enrolled. The primary endpoint occurred in 4.7% of the patients in the colchicine group and 5.8% of those in the placebo group (odds ratio, 0.79; 95.1% confidence interval (CI), 0.61 to 1.03; P=0.08). Among the 4159 patients with PCR-confirmed COVID-19, the primary endpoint occurred in 4.6% and 6.0% of patients in the colchicine and placebo groups, respectively (odds ratio, 0.75; 95% CI, 0.57 to 0.99; P=0.04). In these patients with PCR-confirmed COVID-19, the odds ratios were 0.75 (95% CI, 0.57 to 0.99) for hospitalization due to COVID-19, 0.50 (95% CI, 0.23 to 1.07) for mechanical ventilation, and 0.56 (95% CI, 0.19 to 1.66) for death. Serious adverse events were reported in 4.9% and 6.3% in the colchicine and placebo groups (P=0.05); pneumonia occurred in 2.9% and 4.1% of patients (P=0.02). Diarrhea was reported in 13.7% and 7.3% in the colchicine and placebo groups (P<0.0001). ConclusionAmong non-hospitalized patients with COVID-19, colchicine reduces the composite rate of death or hospitalization. (COLCORONA ClinicalTrials.gov number: NCT04322682)