The WHO guideline on drugs to prevent COVID-19: small numbers- big conclusions
The World Health Organization living guideline on drugs to prevent COVID-19 has recently advised that ongoing trials evaluating hydroxychloroquine in chemoprophylaxis should stop. The WHO guideline cites “high certainty” evidence from randomised controlled trials (RCTs) that hydroxychloroquine proph...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
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F1000Research
2021
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| _version_ | 1826310827668406272 |
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| author | Schilling, WHK Callery, JJ Chandna, A Hamers, RL Watson, J White, NJ |
| author_facet | Schilling, WHK Callery, JJ Chandna, A Hamers, RL Watson, J White, NJ |
| author_sort | Schilling, WHK |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | The World Health Organization living guideline on drugs to prevent COVID-19 has recently advised that ongoing trials evaluating hydroxychloroquine in chemoprophylaxis should stop. The WHO guideline cites “high certainty” evidence from randomised controlled trials (RCTs) that hydroxychloroquine prophylaxis does not reduce mortality and does not reduce hospital admission, and “moderate certainty” evidence of poor tolerability because of a significantly increased rate of adverse events leading to drug discontinuation. Yet there is no such evidence. In the three pre-exposure chemoprophylaxis RCTs evaluated in the guideline there were no deaths and only two COVID-19-related hospital admissions, and there was a mistake in the analysis of the number of discontinuations (after correction there is no longer a statistically significant difference between those taking the drug and the controls). Guidelines on the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 should be based on sufficient verified evidence, understanding of the disease process, sound statistical analysis and interpretation, and an appreciation of global needs. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T07:59:18Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:9cc4240a-eb76-40b4-abe1-43bf93d2946c |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T07:59:18Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publisher | F1000Research |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:9cc4240a-eb76-40b4-abe1-43bf93d2946c2023-09-06T17:19:11ZThe WHO guideline on drugs to prevent COVID-19: small numbers- big conclusionsJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:9cc4240a-eb76-40b4-abe1-43bf93d2946cEnglishSymplectic ElementsF1000Research2021Schilling, WHKCallery, JJChandna, AHamers, RLWatson, JWhite, NJThe World Health Organization living guideline on drugs to prevent COVID-19 has recently advised that ongoing trials evaluating hydroxychloroquine in chemoprophylaxis should stop. The WHO guideline cites “high certainty” evidence from randomised controlled trials (RCTs) that hydroxychloroquine prophylaxis does not reduce mortality and does not reduce hospital admission, and “moderate certainty” evidence of poor tolerability because of a significantly increased rate of adverse events leading to drug discontinuation. Yet there is no such evidence. In the three pre-exposure chemoprophylaxis RCTs evaluated in the guideline there were no deaths and only two COVID-19-related hospital admissions, and there was a mistake in the analysis of the number of discontinuations (after correction there is no longer a statistically significant difference between those taking the drug and the controls). Guidelines on the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 should be based on sufficient verified evidence, understanding of the disease process, sound statistical analysis and interpretation, and an appreciation of global needs. |
| spellingShingle | Schilling, WHK Callery, JJ Chandna, A Hamers, RL Watson, J White, NJ The WHO guideline on drugs to prevent COVID-19: small numbers- big conclusions |
| title | The WHO guideline on drugs to prevent COVID-19: small numbers- big conclusions |
| title_full | The WHO guideline on drugs to prevent COVID-19: small numbers- big conclusions |
| title_fullStr | The WHO guideline on drugs to prevent COVID-19: small numbers- big conclusions |
| title_full_unstemmed | The WHO guideline on drugs to prevent COVID-19: small numbers- big conclusions |
| title_short | The WHO guideline on drugs to prevent COVID-19: small numbers- big conclusions |
| title_sort | who guideline on drugs to prevent covid 19 small numbers big conclusions |
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