Azvudine shows potential in shortening hospital stays and improving lymphocyte counts in patients with non-severe COVID-19
Nikhil Prasad Fact checked by:Thailand Medical News Team Oct 08, 2024 1 week, 22 hours, 38 minutes ago
Medical News: Researchers from Guizhou Provincial People's Hospital have conducted an important study to assess the effectiveness of azvudine in treating patients with severe and non-severe COVID-19. This
Medical News report examines the findings of the study, which focused on whether azvudine could reduce mortality, lower ICU admissions, and shorten hospital stays among COVID-19 patients. The study was conducted during a period when COVID-19 cases surged across China, providing a real-world look at how this antiviral medication performed in both severe and non-severe cases.
Azvudine shows potential in shortening hospital stays and improving lymphocyte counts
in patients with non-severe COVID-19.
The study provides new insight into the treatment of COVID-19 with azvudine, a drug originally developed for HIV treatment but now approved in China for COVID-19 care.
The Study and Its Methodology
The study was conducted at Guizhou Provincial People’s Hospital between December 2022 and January 2023. It was designed as a retrospective analysis, meaning the researchers reviewed previously collected data from 778 hospitalized COVID-19 patients. The patients were divided into two groups: one group of 303 received azvudine treatment, while the other 475 patients served as controls and did not receive azvudine. Patients were matched for characteristics such as sex, age, and disease severity to ensure a fair comparison.
The focus of the study was to determine how effective azvudine was in reducing several key outcomes: all-cause mortality, the need for invasive mechanical ventilation, ICU admissions, and the length of hospital stay. The study also measured improvement in laboratory markers, particularly lymphocyte counts, which have been shown to be linked to recovery from COVID-19.
Key Findings
Impact on Mortality
One of the key questions in this study was whether azvudine could help reduce the mortality rate among COVID-19 patients. However, the researchers found no significant difference in the all-cause mortality between the azvudine-treated group and the control group. In the azvudine group, the mortality rate was 16.2%, while in the control group, it was 12.2%. This suggests that while azvudine may have other benefits, it does not significantly affect overall survival rates in COVID-19 patients, especially in the short-term observation period used in this study.
Hospital Stay
One of the most significant findings of the study was that patients who were treated with azvudine had shorter hospital stays compared to those in the control group. The average hospital stay for patients who received azvudine was 8.34 days, compared to 9.17 days for the control group. This difference was even more pronounced in patients with non-severe COVID-19, where azvudine-treated patients stayed an average of 8.07 days compared to 10.00 days in the control group. This suggests that azvudine may help speed up recovery in less severe cases of the disease.
g>Improvement in Lymphocyte Count
Lymphocyte levels are an important marker in COVID-19 patients, as lymphopenia (a low lymphocyte count) has been linked to poorer outcomes, including a higher risk of ICU admission and death. The study found that azvudine significantly improved lymphocyte counts in patients with non-severe COVID-19. In this group, 23.8% of patients saw improvements in their lymphocyte counts compared to just 12.8% in the control group. This finding is important because it suggests that azvudine may help boost immune recovery in COVID-19 patients, potentially aiding in the overall healing process.
ICU Admissions and Ventilation Needs
While azvudine did not significantly reduce the need for invasive mechanical ventilation or ICU admissions, the overall trends were positive. In the group of patients with non-severe COVID-19, 3.7% of those treated with azvudine needed ICU admission, compared to 0.6% in the control group. Similarly, the need for mechanical ventilation was slightly higher in the azvudine group (1.8%) compared to the control group (0.6%), though these differences were not statistically significant.
Stratified Analysis of Severe vs. Non-Severe Cases
The study performed a stratified analysis to determine if azvudine’s effects differed based on the severity of the disease. Among patients with non-severe COVID-19, azvudine demonstrated more pronounced benefits. In addition to the shorter hospital stays and improved lymphocyte counts, azvudine appeared to provide a slight edge in preventing disease progression. However, for patients with severe COVID-19, the results were less clear. Azvudine did not significantly reduce mortality or improve other key outcomes in these patients. The findings suggest that azvudine may be more effective when used early in the disease course or in less severe cases.
How Azvudine Works
Azvudine is an antiviral medication that was initially developed for the treatment of HIV. It works by inhibiting viral replication, targeting the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase enzyme, which is crucial for the replication of viruses like SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19. Azvudine is taken orally, and in this study, patients received a daily dose of 5 mg for up to 14 days.
The study confirmed that azvudine is well-tolerated and did not result in significant liver or kidney damage, even when used in older patients or those with pre-existing conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, or coronary heart disease. This suggests that azvudine could be a safe option for many COVID-19 patients, particularly those with mild or moderate forms of the disease.
Conclusions and Implications
In conclusion, azvudine shows promise as a treatment for COVID-19, particularly for patients with non-severe cases of the disease. The drug was associated with shorter hospital stays and a higher rate of lymphocyte count improvement, suggesting that it may help accelerate recovery and strengthen immune response. However, azvudine did not significantly reduce mortality or prevent ICU admissions or the need for mechanical ventilation, particularly in patients with severe COVID-19.
The study's findings provide valuable insights for healthcare providers considering azvudine as part of their treatment protocols. Azvudine may be most beneficial when administered to patients with milder symptoms or at earlier stages of the disease. Given its good safety profile, it could be a valuable tool in managing the burden of COVID-19 hospitalizations, helping patients recover more quickly and freeing up hospital resources for more critical cases.
While the study adds to the growing body of evidence supporting the use of azvudine in COVID-19 treatment, further research is needed to determine its full potential, particularly in severe cases and over longer follow-up periods.
The study findings were published in the peer-reviewed journal: Infection and Drug Resistance.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.2147/IDR.S481591
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Read Also:
https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/efficacy-of-azvudine-to-treat-covid-19-questioned
https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/azvudine-reduces-risk-of-mortality-in-covid-19-patients
https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/covid-19-drugs-evaluation-of-results-of-four-phase-iii-clinical-trials-shows-that-the-hiv-drug-azvudine-is-effective-in-treating-covid-19
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