Hydroxychloroquine linked to increased risk of death in hospitalized Covid-19 patients: Study

The anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine, touted by Trump to treat Covid-19, was tied to an increased risk of death in hospitalized Covid-19 patients.

A large study which looked at more than 96,000 people hospitalized with Covid-19, says that those treated with hydroxychloroquine or the related chloroquine had higher risk of death than patients who were not given the medicines

About 15,000 of the 96,000 patients were treated with hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine alone or combined with an antibiotic known as a macrolide.

The study, published in the Lancet medical journal, showed no benefit for coronavirus patients taking the drugs.

Researchers also found that serious cardiac arrhythmias were more common among patients receiving any of the four treatments. The largest increase was among the group treated with hydroxychloroquine and an antibiotic, 8% of those patients developed a heart arrhythmia, compared with 0.3% of patients in the control group

However, the researchers concluded that they were unable to confirm a benefit of hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine when used alone or with a macrolide, on in-hospital outcomes for Covid-19