Hydroxychloroquine plus standard of care compared with standard of care alone in COVID-19: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Abstract The efficacy and safety of Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) in treating coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is disputed. This systematic review meta-analysis aimed to examine the HCQ addition standard care (SOC) COVID-19. PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, Web sciences, medRxiv were searched up March 15, 2021. Clinical studies registry databases also for identifying potential clinical trials. references list key was reviewed identify additional relevant resources. quality included evaluated using Collaboration tool Jadad checklist. Meta-analysis performed RevMan software (version 5.3). Eleven randomized controlled trials with a total number 8161 patients identified as eligible meta-analysis. No significant differences observed between two treatment groups terms negative rate polymerase chain reaction (PCR) (Risk ratio [RR]: 0.99, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.90, 1.08; P = 0.76), PCR conversion time (Mean difference [MD]: − 1.06, CI 3.10, 0.97; 0.30), all-cause mortality (RR: 1.09, 1.00, 1.20; 0.06), body temperature recovery (MD: 0.64, 1.37, 0.10; 0.09), length hospital stay 0.17, 0.80, 0.46; 0.59), use mechanical ventilation 1.12, 0.95, 1.32; 0.19), progression (RR 0.82, 0.37, 1.85; 0.64). However, there regarding adverse events 1.81, 1.36, 2.42; < 0.05). findings suggest that SOC has no benefit hospitalized Additionally, it associated more events.