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Correspondence justifying ICMR& #39;s guideline for using #HCQ for prophylaxis in healthcare workers, in @TheLancet by AIIMS medicine department. My first thought: "They& #39;re the experts, so there must be some good science behind it!" To convince myself, I dig a little deeper
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Ref 4: open-label, non-randomized trial. 26 received HCQ (but 6 lost to follow up), 16 controls. Adjusted for age and sex. NO DATA ON CO-MORBIDITIES. Result-HCQ led to significant reduction of viral carriage ar D6. Azithromycin if added more efficient. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0924857920300996?via%3Dihub
2/n">https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/a...
2/n">https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/a...
Counter-evidence: study published in @TheLancet two days back. 671 hospital, 6 continents. 81k control group. 3k received HCQ, 6k HCQ + Azithro. Controlled for comorbidities. HCQ and HCQ + Azithro independently associated w/ inc risk of mortality and ventricular arrhythmia.
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Ref 5: Pre-print, double blind RCT. 62 patients. Only controlled for age and sex . NO DATA ON COMORBIDITIES. Result - TTCR for body temp recovery and cough remission shortened in HCQ group
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.03.22.20040758v3
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https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.03.22.20040758v3
4/n">https://www.medrxiv.org/content/1...
Ref 6: Post-exposure prophylaxis for #COVID using HCQ. Study form South Korea, 211 individuals given PEP with HCQ after an exposure event. All individuals who completed PEP had a negative follow-up RT-PCR. NO CONTROL ARM.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S092485792030145X?via%3Dihub
5/n">https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/a...
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S092485792030145X?via%3Dihub
5/n">https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/a...
Three references used to justify the use of HCQ. Even if we ignore the fact that none of them were for pre-exposure prophylaxis, all three suffer major major methodological flaws. There is increasing evidence that HCQ does more harm than good when used for treatment.
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Apparently ICMR has done studies finding HCQ effective. The media knows about it, but the scientific community doesn& #39;t. Nothing published yet.
https://theprint.in/health/hcq-breakthrough-icmr-finds-its-effective-in-preventing-coronavirus-expands-its-use/427583/?amp&__twitter_impression=true
7/n">https://theprint.in/health/hc...
https://theprint.in/health/hcq-breakthrough-icmr-finds-its-effective-in-preventing-coronavirus-expands-its-use/427583/?amp&__twitter_impression=true
7/n">https://theprint.in/health/hc...
Conclusion: I still can& #39;t wrap my head around why HCQ prophylaxis is recommended. But, I& #39;m just a student. The experts at my institute say otherwise
So, when not long from now I& #39;ll have COVID-19 duties, will I be taking HCQ? I don& #39;t know. I hope I& #39;m less confused then.
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End.
So, when not long from now I& #39;ll have COVID-19 duties, will I be taking HCQ? I don& #39;t know. I hope I& #39;m less confused then.
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End.
