The Use of Mebendazole in COVID-19 Patients: An Observational Retrospective Single Center Study

DOI record: { "DOI": "10.1155/2022/3014686", "ISSN": [ "1687-8647", "1687-8639" ], "URL": "http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2022/3014686", "abstract": "<jats:p>Background. An in-silico screen identified mebendazole with potential antiviral activity that could be a repurposed drug against SARS-CoV-2. Mebendazole is a well-tolerated and cheap antihelminthic agent that is readily available worldwide and thus could be a therapeutic tool in the fight against COVID-19. Methods. This is an observational retrospective study of PCR-confirmed COVID-19 patients who received mebendazole with the intention-to-treat. The study included an inpatient cohort (157 inpatients) and an outpatient cohort (185 outpatients). Of the 157 inpatients and 185 outpatients, 68 (43.3%) and 94 (50.8%) received mebendazole, respectively. Patients who presented within the same timeframe but did not receive mebendazole were used as controls. Patients received standard-of-care treatment including remdesivir, dexamethasone, and anticoagulants as deemed necessary by the treating physician. The following clinical outcomes were evaluated: for the inpatient cohort, length of stay (LOS) at the hospital, need for ventilation (combined invasive and noninvasive), and mortality; for the outpatient cohort, time to symptom resolution, need for hospitalization, and mortality. Results. For the inpatient cohort, the median age did not differ between the treatment and control groups; 62 (56, 67) vs. 62 (56, 68), <jats:inline-formula>\n <math xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML\" id=\"M1\">\n <mi>P</mi>\n </math>\n </jats:inline-formula>, and there was a comparable proportion of males in both groups; 43 (63%) vs. 55 (62%), <jats:inline-formula>\n <math xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML\" id=\"M2\">\n <mi>P</mi>\n <mo>=</mo>\n <mn>0.85</mn>\n </math>\n </jats:inline-formula>. The hospital LOS was 3.5 days shorter in the treatment group compared to the control group (<jats:inline-formula>\n <math xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML\" id=\"M3\">\n <mi>P</mi>\n <mo>&lt;</mo>\n <mn>0.001</mn>\n </math>\n </jats:inline-formula>). There were fewer patients who required invasive or noninvasive ventilation in the treatment group, 2 (2.9%) vs. 7 (7.9%), and the mortality rate is lower in the treatment group, 3 (4.4%) vs. 8 (9.0%), though the differences did not reach statistical significance. For the outpatient cohort, the median age was lower in the treatment group compared with the control group; 40 (34, 48) vs. 48 (41, 54), <jats:inline-formula>\n <math xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML\" id=\"M4\">\n <mi>P</mi>\n <mo>&lt;</mo>\n <mn>0.001</mn>\n </math>\n </jats:inline-formula>. There was a comparable proportion of males between both groups; 50 (53%) vs. 52 (57%), <jats:inline-formula>\n <math xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML\" id=\"M5\">\n <mi>P</mi>\n <mo>=</mo>\n <mn>0.59</mn>\n </math>\n </jats:inline-formula>. Patients in the treatment group were 3.3 days closer to symptom resolution (<jats:inline-formula>\n <math xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML\" id=\"M6\">\n <mi>P</mi>\n <mo>&lt;</mo>\n <mn>0.001</mn>\n </math>\n </jats:inline-formula>). There were numerically fewer patients requiring hospitalization in the treatment group compared with the control group, 3 (3.2%) vs. 6 (6.6%), though this did not reach statistical significance (<jats:inline-formula>\n <math xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML\" id=\"M7\">\n <mi>P</mi>\n <mo>=</mo>\n <mn>0.33</mn>\n </math>\n </jats:inline-formula>). Conclusion. In this retrospective observational study, the use of mebendazole in COVID-19 patients was associated with shorter hospitalizations in the inpatient cohort and shorter durations of symptom resolution in the outpatient cohort. The findings from this small observational study are hypothesis-generating and preclude drawing conclusions about clinical efficacy. Further studies are needed to examine the role of mebendazole in the treatment of COVID-19 patients.</jats:p>", "alternative-id": [ "3014686", "3014686" ], "author": [ { "affiliation": [ { "name": "School of Medicine, Aim Shams University, Cairo, Egypt" } ], "family": "Galal", "given": "Mostafa W.", "sequence": "first" }, { "affiliation": [ { "name": "Department of Internal Medicine Cardiology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA" } ], "family": "Ahmed", "given": "Mahmoud", "sequence": "additional" }, { "affiliation": [ { "name": "Department of Statistical Science, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX 75275, USA" }, { "name": "Department of Population and Data Sciences, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA" } ], "family": "Shao", "given": "Yanqiu", "sequence": "additional" }, { "affiliation": [ { "name": "Department of Population and Data Sciences, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA" }, { "name": "McDermott Center for Human Growth and Development and Department of Bioinformatics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA" } ], "family": "Xing", "given": "Chao", "sequence": "additional" }, { "affiliation": [ { "name": "Egyptian Center for Research in Regenerative Medicine, Cairo, Egypt" } ], "family": "Ali", "given": "Wael", "sequence": "additional" }, { "affiliation": [ { "name": "Department of Clinical Pathology, Cura El-Nasr Hospitals, Cairo, Egypt" } ], "family": "Baly", "given": "Abd Elhamid", "sequence": "additional" }, { "affiliation": [ { "name": "Department of Radiology, Cura El-Nasr Hospitals, Helwan university, Cairo, Egypt" } ], "family": "Elfiky", "given": "Abdallah", "sequence": "additional" }, { "affiliation": [ { "name": "Department of Biochemistry, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA" } ], "family": "Amer", "given": "Khaled", "sequence": "additional" }, { "affiliation": [ { "name": "Epartments Microbiology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA" } ], "family": "Schoggins", "given": "John", "sequence": "additional" }, { "ORCID": "http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4745-366X", "affiliation": [ { "name": "Departments Biophysics and Molecular Biology and Center for Regenerative Science and Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA" }, { "name": "Department of Internal Medicine Cardiology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA" } ], "authenticated-orcid": true, "family": "Sadek", "given": "Hesham A.", "sequence": "additional" }, { "ORCID": "http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8921-259X", "affiliation": [ { "name": "Department of Clinical Pathology, Cura El-Nasr Hospitals, Cairo, Egypt" } ], "authenticated-orcid": true, "family": "Gobara", "given": "Zeinab N.", "sequence": "additional" } ], "container-title": "Advances in Virology", "container-title-short": "Advances in Virology", "content-domain": { "crossmark-restriction": false, "domain": [] }, "created": { "date-parts": [ [ 2022, 12, 10 ] ], "date-time": "2022-12-10T19:35:09Z", "timestamp": 1670700909000 }, "deposited": { "date-parts": [ [ 2022, 12, 10 ] ], "date-time": "2022-12-10T19:35:12Z", "timestamp": 1670700912000 }, "editor": [ { "affiliation": [], "family": "Lin", "given": "Shih-Chao", "sequence": "additional" } ], "indexed": { "date-parts": [ [ 2022, 12, 11 ] ], "date-time": "2022-12-11T05:27:10Z", "timestamp": 1670736430808 }, "is-referenced-by-count": 0, "issued": { "date-parts": [ [ 2022, 12, 10 ] ] }, "language": "en", "license": [ { "URL": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "content-version": "unspecified", "delay-in-days": 0, "start": { "date-parts": [ [ 2022, 12, 10 ] ], "date-time": "2022-12-10T00:00:00Z", "timestamp": 1670630400000 } } ], "link": [ { "URL": "http://downloads.hindawi.com/journals/av/2022/3014686.pdf", "content-type": "application/pdf", 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