Hydroxychloroquine ineffective for COVID-19 prophylaxis in lupus and rheumatoid arthritis

8/5 Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis study (treated before exposed to the virus)

Singer et al., Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, doi:10.1136/annrheumdis-2020-218500 (Letter)
Hydroxychloroquine ineffective for COVID-19 prophylaxis in lupus and rheumatoid arthritis

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Comparison of the percentage of SLE/RA patients on immunosuppressants that were taking HCQ, for COVID-19 diagnosis versus other infections or outpatient visits, finding a similar percentage in each case.

No mortality of severity information is provided to determine if HCQ treated patients fared better. No adjustment for concomitant medications or severity.

Singer et al., 8/5/2020, retrospective, database analysis, USA, North America, preprint, 3 authors.

risk of COVID-19 case, 9.0% higher, RR 1.09, p = 0.62, treatment 55 of 10700 (0.5%), control 104 of 22058 (0.5%).

This study is excluded in meta analysis: not fully adjusting for the baseline risk differences within systemic autoimmune patients.

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.

All 344 studies Meta Analysis

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