‘HCQ raises risk of death among Covid patients’

WASHINGTON: The antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), touted by US President Donald Trump as a “game changer” in Covid-19 treatment, significantly increased the risk of death and fatal heart problems among hospitalised patients, according to a study published in The Lancet.

The study, which was led by

Mandeep Mehra, an IndianAmerican professor at Harvard University, covered 96,000 patients at 671 hospitals on six continents. “I wish we had this information at the outset as there has potentially been harm to patients,” Mehra told The Washington Post.

After looking at data for age, gender, ethnicity and underlying medical conditions, the analysis found that the risk of mortality was 34% higher among patients who were given HCQ. There was a 137% higher chance of developing heart arrhythmia.

The mortality risk was even higher at 45% among patients given the antimalarial drug along with an antibiotic - a combination that Trump has promoted with great enthusiasm. The risk of developing heart arrhythmia was significantly higher. Chloroquine fared just as dismally.

The findings come days after Trump revealed he had progressed from promoting the drug cocktail to consuming them, with the consent of his White House physician.

In the US, fatalities from Covid-19 went up by 1,263 in the last 24 hours.

Among those killed was Wilson Roosevelt Jerman, who was the longest serving of White House employees. He was 91 and had served 11 presidents.