COVID-19 patients who were treated with malaria drug hydroxychloroquine did not experience lower risk of death compared to coronavirus patients who received other treatments, according to a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine.
Researchers included outcomes data for 1,376 COVID-19 patients hospitalized at a large medical center in New York City in the study. They examined the link between hydroxychloroquine use and death or intubation.
Of the 1,376 patients, 811 (58.9 percent) received hydroxychloroquine. Hydroxychloroquine-treated patients were more severely ill when they began treatment than patients who did not receive the drug.
In total, among patients both receiving the drug and those not receiving it, 180 were intubated, of whom 66 subsequently died; 166 died without intubation. The study found no significant association between hydroxychloroquine use and intubation or death.