Abstract
Objective: to assess effectiveness and safety of hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine on the treatment of COVID-19. Study desing: a systematic review of literature was performed in two databases; studies were included if they had as intervention use of chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine and reported outcomes on laboratorial or clinical findings or description of side effects. Results: 38 studies were included; of those, only one fulfilled inclusion criteria and were included in this review. This study has important methodological issues and only reported viral load, but any clinical outcomes. Conclusions: Many ongoing clinical trials will provide new evidences about the use of hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine to the treatment of COVID-19. Current evidence do not support its use on clinical practice.
Highlights
The respiratory syndrome associated with the infection of SARS-Cov-2 was firstly reported in China and is a public health concern, due to the fast spread of infection worldwide in the last months
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared it a pandemic, and global efforts are made to stop virus spread and to discover a drug to prevent complications and death associated to the disease, recognized as COVID-19 (1)
The aim of this systematic review is to summarize results of previous studies that evaluated the use of chloroquine of hydroxychloroquine in patients with COVID-19, and to describe potential benefits, risks and efficacy of this therapy
Summary
The respiratory syndrome associated with the infection of SARS-Cov-2 was firstly reported in China and is a public health concern, due to the fast spread of infection worldwide in the last months. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared it a pandemic, and global efforts are made to stop virus spread and to discover a drug to prevent complications and death associated to the disease, recognized as COVID-19 (1). Chloroquine, an anti-malarial drug, has been tested against other viral infections as MERS and SARS, with inconclusive results (2). The aim of this systematic review is to summarize results of previous studies that evaluated the use of chloroquine of hydroxychloroquine in patients with COVID-19, and to describe potential benefits, risks and efficacy of this therapy
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