Favipiravir for the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 pneumonia; a propensity score-matched cohort study

• Main Authors: Rand A. Alattar (Author), Shiema Abdalla (Author), Tasneem Abdallah (Author), Rashid Kazman (Author), Aseelah Qadmour (Author), Tawheeda Ibrahim (Author), Bassem Alhariri (Author), Shahd H. Shaar (Author), Abeer Bajwa (Author), Abeir Alimam (Author), Rabia Qazi (Author), Fatma Ben Abid (Author), Joanne Daghfal (Author), Ali Eldeeb (Author), Kinda Shukri (Author), Ahmed Elsayed (Author), Fatima Rustom (Author), Musaed Alsamawi (Author), Alaaeldin Abdelmajid (Author), Miguel A.P. Basulto (Author), Armando A.R. Cobian (Author), Mohamed Abukhattab (Author), Abdullatif Alkhal (Author), Muna A. Almaslamani (Author), Ali S. Omrani (Author)
• Format: Book
• Published: Elsevier, 2022-10-01T00:00:00Z.
• Subjects: article
• Online Access: Connect to this object online.

Summary

We retrospectively investigated the clinical outcomes of favipiravir in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia. Patients who between 23 May 2020 and 18 July 2020 received ≥ 24 h of favipiravir were assigned to the favipiravir group, while those who did not formed the non-favipiravir group. The primary outcome was 28-day clinical improvement, defined as two-category improvement from baseline on an 8-point ordinal scale. Propensity scores (PS) for favipiravir therapy were used for 1:1 matching. The unmatched cohort included 1493 patients, of which 51.7% were in the favipiravir group, and 48.3% were not receiving supplemental oxygen at baseline. Significant baseline differences between the two unmatched groups existed, but not between the PS-matched groups (N = 774). After PS-matching, there were no significant differences between the two groups in the proportion with 28-day clinical improvement (93.3% versus 92.8%, P 0.780), or 28-day all-cause mortality (2.1% versus 3.1%, P 0.360). Favipiravir was associated with more viral clearance by day 28 (79.8% versus 64.1%, P < 0.001). Adverse events were common in both groups, but the 93.9% were Grades 1-3. Favipiravir therapy for COVID-19 pneumonia is well tolerated but is not associated with an increased likelihood of clinical improvement or reduced all-cause mortality by 28 days.

Item Description

1876-0341
10.1016/j.jiph.2022.08.011