The Effect of Hydroxychloroquine on Mortality and Pneumonia Development in SARS-Cov-2 Positive Mildly Symptomatic Outpatients without Findings of Pneumonia

Abstract

Although a period longer than 10 months has passed since the detection of the first cases in and more than 40 million people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 worldwide, there is still no well-accepted and proven treatment choice for the novel coronavirus disease. This study aimed to retrospectively investigate cases in whom treatment had started due to detected as positive during screening and also having shown signs including fever, cough, shortness of breath, excessive malaise, fatigue or loss of smell-taste, without any findings of pneumonia between March 11, 2020, when the first cases were detected in Turkey, and the beginning of May, 2020. A total of 19.276 SARS-CoV-2 PCR positive outpatients, within the first 48 hours of detection and had no findings in lung auscultation or radiology, were detected from the data of Health Information System. 9559 patients were males (49.6%) and 9717 were females (50.4%). An underlying disease considered in the risk group for COVID-19 was found in 1789 of the patients (8.8%). An underlying disease was present in 9.4% using hydroxychloroquine and in 9% not using hydroxychloroquine. 43 deaths (0.2%) were detected among all cases. Mortality in cases using and not using hydroxychloroquine was respectively 5 (in 12.293 cases) and 38 (in 6.983 cases). It was confirmed that pneumonia developed in 2.080 of the patients (10.8%). This number was found as 1286 (10.5%) in cases using HQ and as 794 (11.4%) in cases not using HQ. In conclusion, since this study confirmed that hydroxychloroquine used in outpatients presenting in the early period without any symptoms of pneumonia can ensure survival and prevent pneumonia development particularly in young adults, we may speculate that the early use of hydroxychloroquine in mildly symptomatic patients results in a cost-effective and potent treatment.