COVID-19 hospitalization risk after outpatient nirmatrelvir/ritonavir use, January to August 2022, North Carolina

EHR retrospective 44, 671 patients with 4,948 receiving paxlovid, showing lower hospitalization with treatment.

Confounding by treatment propensity. This study analyzes a population where only a fraction of eligible patients received the treatment. Patients receiving treatment may be more likely to follow other recommendations, more likely to receive additional care, and more likely to use additional treatments that are not tracked in the data (e.g., nasal/oral hygiene c19early.org, c19early.org (B), vitamin D c19early.org (C), etc.) — either because the physician recommending paxlovid also recommended them, or because the patient seeking out paxlovid is more likely to be familiar with the efficacy of additional treatments and more likely to take the time to use them. Malden et al. confirm significant bias in the use of paxlovid, showing that treated patients are more likely to be from affluent neighborhoods, be more health-conscious, and have better access to care. Therefore, these kind of studies may overestimate the efficacy of treatments.

Confounding by contraindication. Hoertel et al. find that over 50% of patients that died had a contraindication for the use of Paxlovid Hoertel. Retrospective studies that do not exclude contraindicated patients may significantly overestimate efficacy. Black box warning. The FDA notes that "severe, life-threatening, and/or fatal adverse reactions due to drug interactions have been reported in patients treated with paxlovid" FDA.

This study is excluded in the after exclusion results of meta analysis: only a fraction of eligible patients received treatment and these patients may be more likely to follow other recommendations, receive additional care, and more more likely to use additional untracked treatments such as vitamin D and nasal/oral hygiene.