Large Study Links Hydroxychloroquine to Increased Risk of Death

Another study — the largest to date — has shown that anti-malaria drugs hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine have no benefit in treating COVID-19, in fact have a negative effect on patient survival and are associated with an increase in ventricular arrhythmias.

The study — undertaken by Mandeep Mehra, a Harvard Medical school professor and doctor at Brigham and Women’s Hospital Heart and Vascular Center, and colleagues at hospitals in other cities — employed an international, observational registry across six continents.

It assessed 96,032 patients with COVID-19, of whom 14,888 were treated with hydroxychloroquine, chloroquine or their combination with a macrolide (a class of antibiotic). The use of all four regimens was associated with an increased hazard for new ventricular arrythmia and death in hospital, said the researchers. — Suz Redfearn