Hydroxychloroquine shows no benefit against coronavirus in N.Y. study

[brooklynite]

Source: Politico

A decades-old malaria medicine touted by the president as a coronavirus treatment showed no benefit for thousands of patients hospitalized in New York.

There was also no noticeable advantage for patients that took the drug paired with the antibiotic azithromycin, according to hotly anticipated research published Monday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

President Donald Trump had repeatedly championed hydroxychloroquine from the press briefing stage, saying it had “tremendous promise” and was safe because “it’s been used for a long time.”

Previous trials had suggested the drug can cause serious heart problems, especially when paired with azithromycin, and the latest study backed up those findings. Researchers said that patients receiving both drugs together were more likely to experience cardiac arrest than those who received one or neither of the therapies.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/11/hydroxychloroquine-shows-no-benefit-against-coronavirus-in-new-york-study-249429

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Didn't see that coming...

[hlthe2b]

1. AND increased incidence of cardiac arrests after controlling for severity of illness, age and other

confounding factors.

This was observational only, but it surely sends a strong message to those pushing bullshit anecdotal series data as justification for unquestioned use of these drugs.

[zipplewrath]

2. The sad reality

It's sad, but its only use might be as a preventative, not as a treatment. But because of the absurd intervention of politics, that aspect may never be investigated. This may be a blood disease that could be treated in advance through various blood medicines, even some like aspirin.

[LisaL]

6. Where is the evidence it actually prevents covid?

[GumboYaYa]

7. This article is a little dated now, but it has a decent summary of the human "studies" up to the

up to the date of the article. https://www.goodrx.com/blog/coronavirus-medicine-chloroquine-hydroxychloroquine-as-covid19-treatment/

The data has been inconsistent. But there also are in vitro studies that show that the drugs can prevent replication of the SARS virus.

Based on everything I have seen on this, I think the timing of when we give certain drugs impacts results. I agree that we need more studies on earlier use of hydroxycholorquin. That was protocol in South Korea and they reported good results.

I also agree that the issue has been overpoliticized because of Trump. Recommending and determining which drugs to use and how to use them should be left to medical professionals.

[MosheFeingold]

8. I don't believe it does

Nor is it particularly useful once people are hospitalized (which is what this study was about).

HCQ does have a marked effect in the early stages of the disease, as it prevents damage to hemoglobin and also ameliorates some of the harm to blood vessels and tissue when the iron is released into the blood from damaged cells. Essentially, HCQ buys time for people to mount their own defense.

Not exactly a "silver bullet", but certainly not anything to dismiss.

The Trump/Media pissing match was not a useful thing.

[Cozmo]

3. "What do You got to Lose", Right?

[Warpy]

4. Well, your eyesight, for one thing

It's rare, but a well known side effect that can appear a few years after the drug is discontinued.

[riversedge]

5. trumpy wrong AGAIN!!

Trump had repeatedly championed hydroxychloroquine from the press briefing stage, saying it had “tremendous promise” and was safe because “it’s been used for a long time.”

[thesquanderer]

9. OTOH, there's also this, so who knows...

https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2020/05/12/nyu-study-looks-at-hydroxychloroquine-zinc-azithromycin-combo-on-decreasing-covid-19-deaths

Researchers at NYU's Grossman School of Medicine found patients given the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine along with zinc sulphate and the antibiotic azithromycin were 44 percent less likely to die from the coronavirus.
...
The study looked at the records of 932 COVID-19 patients treated at local hospitals with hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin. More than 400 of them were also given 100 milligrams of zinc daily. Researchers said the patients given zinc were one and a half times more likely to recover, decreasing their need for intensive care.
...
Dr. Rahimian says patients in the more critical stages of infection did not fare as well. And he cautioned that more research is needed - in particular a randomized controlled trial - to prove how and how well the drug combination works.

Meanwhile, a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association on Monday found that treating patients only with hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin, or both did not reduce hospital deaths. The study by the State Health Department and the SUNY Albany School of Public Health involved 1,500 patients.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

10. Post overstates study's '200%' finding on hydroxychloroquine's power vs COVID-19

I saw this bullshit study being cited by some low IQ TFG supporters and knew that it was bogus. This study is so bad and poorly done that only a TFG supporter who is clueless as to science and the scientific process would cite it.

Link to tweet

For example, this is not a peer review study but was taken from a site that does not deal in peer review works

The study is posted on a website that publishes “preprints” — studies that “have not been finalized by authors, might contain errors and report information that has not yet been accepted or endorsed in any way by the scientific or medical community.”....

The study was posted May 31 on medRxiv, a website that publishes studies that have not been fully vetted. This note is posted with the study: "This article is a preprint and has not been peer-reviewed. It reports new medical research that has yet to be evaluated and so should not be used to guide clinical practice."

he website also says about its "preprint" or "unrefereed" articles: "Before formal publication in a scholarly journal, scientific and medical articles are traditionally certified by ‘peer review.’ In this process, the journal’s editors take advice from various experts — called ‘referees’ — who have assessed the paper and may identify weaknesses in its assumptions, methods and conclusions … Readers should therefore be aware that articles on medRxiv have not been finalized by authors, might contain errors, and report information that has not yet been accepted or endorsed in any way by the scientific or medical community."

The analysis concludes that this study is poorly designed and the conclusions are not supported. Politifact interviewed several real scientists who concluded that this study is flawed and should not be relied on (even by low IQ TFG supporters).

Here is the conclusion about this study

Our ruling
A widely shared social media post stated: "Study: hydroxychloroquine can boost COVID-19 survival chances by nearly 200%."

A study says a certain dosing of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin "improves survival by nearly 200%" among hospitalized COVID-19 patients who received invasive mechanical ventilation, but the post exaggerates the finding’s significance.

The study is posted on a website that publishes studies that "have not been finalized by authors, might contain errors and report information that has not yet been accepted or endorsed in any way by the scientific or medical community." Experts told PolitiFact the study is poorly designed and that no conclusion about cause and effect should be drawn from it.

For a statement that contains only an element of truth, our rating is Mostly False.

I am amused that the RWNJ believe that this study is meaningful.