Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37337482›Full record

ArticleCureus2023

Paxlovid for Treating COVID-19 Patients: A Case-Control Study From Two Hospitals in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia.

Ali Alsaeed, Abdullah Alkhalaf, Ali Alomran, Walaa Alsfyani, Fadhel Alhaddad, Mousa J Alhaddad

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Cureus, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Review
  3. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Ali AlsaeedInfectious Disease Division, Department of Internal Medicine, Dammam Medical Complex, Dammam, SAU.
Abdullah AlkhalafDepartment of Internal Medicine, Dammam Medical Complex, Dammam, SAU.
Ali AlomranDepartment of Internal Medicine, Dammam Medical Complex, Dammam, SAU.
Walaa AlsfyaniDepartment of Internal Medicine, Dammam Medical Complex, Dammam, SAU.
Fadhel AlhaddadInfectious Disease Division, Department of Internal Medicine, Qatif Cental Hospital, Qatif, SAU.
Mousa J AlhaddadDepartment of Internal Medicine, Dammam Medical Complex, Dammam, SAU.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease that shortly progressed into an unprecedented pandemic spreading all over the world and causing millions of deaths. Many new COVID-19-specific therapies were suggested for the treatment of the patients at increased risk of progression to severe disease, especially those who were unvaccinated and those with a likely inadequate vaccine response. One of the preferred therapies in this setting is Paxlovid, a combination of the oral protease inhibitors nirmatrelvir and ritonavir. Paxlovid was authorized by the Saudi Ministry of Health for the treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19. This study aimed to report the effects of Paxlovid on the mortality of the COVID-19 patients at Dammam Medical Complex (DMC) and Qatif Complex Hospital (QCH), two hospitals in the Eastern Provence of Saudi Arabia, and compare the results with the international data. Methods The study was a retrospective study that included all the COVID-19 patients who were treated with Paxlovid at DMC and QCH between January and December 2022. Those patients were compared with control COVID-19 patients who did not receive Paxlovid. The patients were included irrespective of their COVID-19 vaccination status. All the patients were managed according to the Saudi Ministry of Health guidelines. They were followed up through the infectious disease virtual clinics and were monitored for ICU admissions and death of any cause for three months following their COVID-19 infections. Results A total of 92 COVID-19 patients were included. The patients consisted of 47 male and 45 female patients (51.09% and 48.91%, respectively). The mean ± standard deviation for the patients' age was 55.58±19.25 years. Twenty-eight patients were given Paxlovid (30.43%). Eighteen patients (19.57%) died. The use of Paxlovid was associated with lower ICU admissions (0.0% vs. 18.75%, P value <0.05) and with lower deaths (3.57% vs 26.56%, P value <0.05) but the Paxlovid group included less immunocompromised patients (7.14% vs. 60.94%, P value <0.001), cancer patients (0.0% vs. 42.19%, P value <0.001), and chronic kidney disease patients (7.14% vs. 29.69%, P value <0.05) than the control group. Conclusion This study suggests that Paxlovid is highly effective in reducing the risk of severe COVID-19 or mortality. However, larger studies with better qualities are needed for a full assessment of the role of Paxlovid in COVID-19 management in Saudi Arabia.

Indexed as

covid-19nirmatrelvirpaxlovidritonavirsars-cov-2saudi arabia

Identifiers

PMID37337482
PMCPMC10277155

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.