
Study of chloroquine for Covid-19 stopped early over heart rhythm problems - elorant
https://www.livescience.com/coronavirus-chloroquine-study-stopped-early.html
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lbeltrame
The study was not "stopped". They removed the high dose arm because of these
issues and continued with the low dose arm, although at least one source
(Biocentury) called the emergence of the toxic effect "stastistically
insignificant trend".

Which doesn't mean that it's not bad (it is), but that you can't rule out the
null hypothesis there (assuming that what Biocentury wrote was correct).

I don't know enough on the safety profile of hydroxychloroquine as opposed to
chloroquine to tell if they're different on that regard (the French
institution in Marseille uses the latter, IIRC).

Any pointers on that?

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boomboomsubban
The study comparing the dosage was stopped, but a parallel study presumably
about overall effectiveness is still ongoing.

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viggity
We've known for a long time that CQ and HCQ are generally safe as they're
given as antimalarials. Heart arrhythmias are certainly a concern for long
term use (such as in lupus), or for people with an existing heart condition.

Based on all the papers I've consumed, I think it is likely that CQ/HCQ will
reduce the length that a normal, healthy adult will be contagious and that it
is probably worth giving as a prophylaxis or early on in an infection to slow
down the spread of the disease (going from 14 days of contagiousness is much
worse than 4 days of contagiousness). But it is highly unlikely that this is
some sort of panacea for later stages of the infection or in older adults.

