Chloroquine and Hydroxychloroquine: Efficacy in the Treatment of the COVID-19
Tzu-Chuan Ho,
Yung-Hsuan Wang,
Yi-Ling Chen,
Wan-Chi Tsai,
Che-Hsin Lee,
Kuo-Pin Chuang,
Yi-Ming Arthur Chen,
Cheng-Hui Yuan,
Sheng-Yow Ho,
Ming-Hui Yang,
Yu-Chang Tyan
Affiliations
Tzu-Chuan Ho
Department of Medical Imaging and Radiological Sciences, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 807, Taiwan
Yung-Hsuan Wang
St. Dominic Catholic High School, Kaohsiung 802, Taiwan
Yi-Ling Chen
Department of Nuclear Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung 807, Taiwan
Wan-Chi Tsai
Department of Medical Laboratory Science and Biotechnology, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 807, Taiwan
Che-Hsin Lee
Department of Biological Science, National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung 804, Taiwan
Kuo-Pin Chuang
Graduate Institute of Animal Vaccine Technology, College of Veterinary Medicine, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Pingtung 912, Taiwan
Yi-Ming Arthur Chen
Graduate Institute of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Science, Fu Jen Catholic University, New Taipei City 242, Taiwan
Cheng-Hui Yuan
Mass Spectrometry Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, National University of Singapore, Singapore 119077, Singapore
Sheng-Yow Ho
Department of Radiation Oncology, Chi Mei Medical Center, Graduate Institute of Medical Science, Chang Jung Christian University, Tainan 710, Taiwan
Ming-Hui Yang
Department of Medical Education and Research, Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, Kaohsiung 813, Taiwan
Yu-Chang Tyan
Department of Medical Imaging and Radiological Sciences, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 807, Taiwan
Chloroquine (CQ) and its derivative, hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), have attracted wide attention for treating coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, conflicting outcomes have been found in COVID-19 clinical trials after treatment with CQ or HCQ. To date, it remains uncertain whether CQ and HCQ are beneficial antiviral drugs for combating COVID-19. We performed a systematic review to depict the efficacy of CQ or HCQ for the treatment of COVID-19. The guidelines of PRISMA were used to conduct this systematic review. We searched through articles from PubMed, Web of Science and other sources that were published from 1 January 2020 to 31 October 2020. The search terms included combinations of human COVID-19, CQ, and HCQ. Eleven qualitative articles comprising of four clinical trials and seven observation studies were utilized in our systematic review. The analysis shows that CQ and HCQ do not have efficacy in treatment of patients with severe COVID-19. In addition, CQ and HCQ have caused life-threatening adverse reactions which included cardiac arrest, electrocardiogram modification, and QTc prolongation, particularly during the treatment of patients with severe COVID-19. Our systematic review suggested that CQ and HCQ are not beneficial antiviral drugs for curing patients with severe COVID-19. The treatment effect of CQ and HCQ is not only null but also causes serious side effects, which may cause potential cardiotoxicity in severe COVID-19 patients.
