Efficacy of Azvudine Therapy in Patients with Severe and Non-Severe COVID‐19: A Propensity Score-Matched Analysis
Siqin Zhang, Songsong Tan, Bin Yang, Yaoyao Wu, Guohang Yuan, Fengjiao Chen, Lin Liu
Infection and Drug Resistance, doi:10.2147/idr.s481591
Objective: Azvudine is used to treat patients with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This study evaluated the clinical efficacy of azvudine in hospitalized patients with different severities of COVID-19 because few studies have described this in patients with severe and non-severe COVID-19. Methods: This retrospective study included hospitalized patients with COVID-19 in Guizhou Provincial People's Hospital between December 2022 and January 2023. Azvudine-treated patients and controls were matched for sex, age, and disease severity at admission. Laboratory results and outcomes, including all-cause mortality, invasive mechanical ventilation, intensive care unit admission, and hospital stay length, were evaluated. Stratified analysis was used to explore the difference in the efficacy of azvudine in severe and non-severe COVID-19 patients. Results: No significant differences in all-cause mortality were observed between the 303 azvudine recipients and 303 matched controls. However, azvudine-treated patients had shorter hospital stays (8.34±4.79 vs 9.17±6.25 days, P=0.046) and higher lymphocyte improvement rates (21.5% vs 13.9%, P=0.019), with a more pronounced effect in patients with non-severe COVID-19 (length of hospital stay, 8.07±4.35 vs 10.00±6.29 days, P=0.001; lymphocyte improvement rate, 23.8% vs 12.8%, P=0.015). Conclusion: Azvudine treatment shortens hospital stay length and increases the rate of lymphocyte count improvement in patients with non-severe COVID-19, suggesting that azvudine may be a treatment option for these patients.
Ethics Approval and Informed Consent This study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, and was approved by the Ethics Committee of Guizhou Provincial People's Hospital (No. [2022] 113). Due to the retrospective design and the use of anonymized data, the requirement for informed consent was waived.
Author Contributions All authors made a significant contribution to the work reported, whether that is in the conception, study design, execution, acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation, or in all these areas; took part in drafting, revising or critically reviewing the article; gave final approval of the version to be published; have agreed on the journal to which the article has been submitted; and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.
Disclosure The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.
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