Hydrogen peroxide as an auxiliary treatment for COVID-19 in Brazil: a randomized double-blind clinical trial
Marielle Bazzo Di Domênico, Kauê Collares, Renan Brandenburg Dos Santos, Ulysses Lenz, Vinícius Picoli Antunes, Vinicius Webber Godinho, Henrique Cesca, Thales Henrique Jincziwski Ponciano, Pedro Henrique Corazza
Epidemiology and Health, doi:10.4178/epih.e2021051
OBJECTIVES: This study evaluated the effectiveness of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) as mouthwash and nasal spray on symptom relief in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients.
METHODS: Patients positive for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), who were treated in a hospital or at home, and patients' family members (not positive for SARS-CoV-2), were randomized into 2 groups: experimental (1% H2O2 for gargling, 0.5% H2O2 for nasal wash), and control. Patients gargled the solution 3 times a day, and applied the nasal spray twice a day, for a 7-day period. Family members received the same treatment as the treated COVID-19 patient. The researchers contacted patients every 2 days over an 8-day period. An average post-treatment interval of 8 days passed before testing family members.
RESULTS: The most frequent symptoms on day 0 were cough, loss of taste, and hyposmia; there were no significant differences between groups, independent of the period. The symptom of dyspnea presented a significant difference between days 2 and 4 (p < 0.05). Among family members, 86.0% had no antibodies, 2.3% had antibodies, and 11.6% had active infections (4 in the experimental group and 6 in the control group). The most frequent adverse effects in the H2O2 group were a burning throat and nose. CONCLUSIONS: H2O2 was not effective for the relief of COVID-19 symptoms and was associated with reports of transient adverse effects.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare for this study.
FUNDING Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES).
AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS Conceptualization: PHC, MBDD. Data curation: KC. Formal analysis: KC. Funding acquisition: MBDD. Methodology: HC, THJP, RBS, UL, VPA, VWG. Project administration: PHC, MBDD, HC. Writing -original draft: MBDD, PHC, HC. Writing -review & editing: KC, RBS, UL, VPA, VWG, THJP.
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