Brief communication: A meta-analysis of randomized trials of hydroxychloroquine for the prevention of COVID-19

10/1 PrEP, PEP

Garcia-Albeniz et al., medRxiv, doi:10.1101/2020.09.29.20203869 (Preprint) (meta analysis)
Brief communication: A meta-analysis of randomized trials of hydroxychloroquine for the prevention of COVID-19

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Combination of the four underpowered prophylaxis RCTs to date showing statistically significant results, RR 0.78 [0.61-0.99].

The actual effect of HCQ is likely to be higher for several reasons: the trials did not adjust for losses to follow-up or other deviations from protocol. There was very long treatment delays in the postexposure prophylaxis trials - in one trial, about a third of participants were enrolled 4 days after exposure with an additional shipping delay of ~46 hours on average, in the other, participants were enrolled up to 7 days after exposure, with an unknown additional delay before treatment, and results suggesting that exposure detection was delayed.

For other reasons see: [1, 2, 3, 4].

Garcia-Albeniz et al., 10/1/2020, preprint, 5 authors.

risk of COVID-19 case, 22.0% lower, RR 0.78, p = 0.04.

Effect extraction follows pre-specified rules prioritizing more serious outcomes. For an individual study the most serious outcome may have a smaller number of events and lower statistical signficance, however this provides the strongest evidence for the most serious outcomes when combining the results of many trials.

[1] c19study.com/boulware.html

[2] c19study.com/mitjapep.html

[3] c19study.com/rajasingham.html

[4] c19study.com/abella.html

All 344 studies Meta Analysis

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