Antidepressants for prevention of severe COVID-19, Long COVID and outlook for other viral diseases

Bonnet et al., Frontiers in Medicine, doi:10.3389/fmed.2024.1305184, Feb 2024

Fluvoxamine

30th treatment shown to reduce risk in November 2021, now with p = 0.00014 from 21 studies, recognized in 2 countries.

Lower risk for mortality, hospitalization, progression, recovery, and cases.

No treatment is 100% effective. Protocols combine treatments.

6,200+ studies for 200+ treatments. c19early.org

Download Meta Analysis

Review of clinical studies on the potential benefits of antidepressants for prevention and treatment of COVID-19 and its sequelae. Authors summarize evidence from retrospective studies, randomized controlled trials, prospective studies, and meta-analyses suggesting that antidepressants, especially selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors, may help prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection, reduce COVID-19 severity and mortality, and potentially alleviate long COVID symptoms. Proposed mechanisms include direct antiviral effects and anti-inflammatory properties. Authors make a case for considering inexpensive and available antidepressants as adjunctive therapy, emphasizing their affordability and availability.

Reviews covering fluvoxamine for COVID-19 include1-7.

Important missing comments or errors? Let us know.

1. Scheim et al., Back to the Basics of SARS-CoV-2 Biochemistry: Microvascular Occlusive Glycan Bindings Govern Its Morbidities and Inform Therapeutic Responses, Viruses, doi:10.3390/v16040647.mdpi.com, doi.org.

2. Hashimoto, K., Overview of the potential use of fluvoxamine for COVID-19 and long COVID, Discover Mental Health, doi:10.1007/s44192-023-00036-3.springer.com, doi.org.

3. Hashimoto (B) et al., Mechanisms of action of fluvoxamine for COVID-19: a historical review, Molecular Psychiatry, doi:10.1038/s41380-021-01432-3.nature.com, doi.org.

4. Hashimoto (C) et al., Old drug fluvoxamine, new hope for COVID-19, European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, doi:10.1007/s00406-021-01326-z.springer.com, doi.org.

5. Hoertel et al., Repurposing antidepressants inhibiting the sphingomyelinase acid/ceramide system against COVID-19: current evidence and potential mechanisms, Molecular Psychiatry, doi:10.1038/s41380-021-01254-3.nature.com, doi.org.

6. Sukhatme et al., Fluvoxamine: A Review of Its Mechanism of Action and Its Role in COVID-19, Front. Pharmacol., doi:10.3389/fphar.2021.652688.frontiersin.org, doi.org.

7. Kirsch, S., COVID FAQ, www.skirsch.com/covid/COVID_FAQ.pdfskirsch.com.

Bonnet et al., 20 Feb 2024, peer-reviewed, 3 authors.

Abstract: TYPE Opinion PUBLISHED 20 February 2024 DOI 10.3389/fmed.2024.1305184 OPEN ACCESS EDITED BY Daniel Diaz, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico REVIEWED BY Velyn Wu, University of Florida, United States *CORRESPONDENCE Udo Bonnet udo.bonnet@uni-due.de RECEIVED 17 December 2023 ACCEPTED 05 February 2024 PUBLISHED 20 February 2024 CITATION Bonnet U, Juckel G and Kuhn J (2024) Antidepressants for prevention of severe COVID-19, Long COVID and outlook for other viral diseases. Front. Med. 11:1305184. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2024.1305184 Antidepressants for prevention of severe COVID-19, Long COVID and outlook for other viral diseases Udo Bonnet1,2*, Georg Juckel3 and Jens Kuhn4,5 1 Department of Mental Health, Evangelisches Krankenhaus Castrop-Rauxel, Academic Teaching Hospital of the University of Duisburg/Essen, Castrop-Rauxel, Germany, 2 Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Faculty of Medicine, Landschaftsverband Rheinland-Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany, 3 Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Preventive Medicine, LWL University Hospital, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany, 4 Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Cologne, Cologne, Germany, 5 Alexianer Hospital Cologne, Cologne, Germany KEYWORDS antidepressants, resilience, prevention, COVID-19, Long COVID, Post COVID, PACS COPYRIGHT © 2024 Bonnet, Juckel and Kuhn. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.