Study finds Paxlovid reduces risk for severe COVID-19, death by 46%
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Paxlovid lowered the risk for severe COVID-19 or death by 46% in a study of patients in Israel and was especially effective among older or immunosuppressed patients, or patients with underlying neurological or cardiovascular diseases.
“The use of Paxlovid without knowing the real effect in a real-world setting and in the era of the omicron variant is what prompted this study,” Ronza Najjar-Debbiny, MD, head of the infection prevention and control unit at Lady Davis Carmel Medical Center in Haifa, Israel, told Healio.
Najjar-Debbiny and colleagues used the database of the largest health care provider in Israel to identify adults with a first-time positive test for SARS-CoV-2 between January and February 2022. They included in their study patients at high risk for severe COVID-19 with no contraindications for Paxlovid, regardless of vaccination status, and estimated their 28-day HR for severe COVID-19 or death with Paxlovid, which has been authorized for use in the United States since December.
Among the 180,351 eligible patients included in the study, 4,737 were treated with Paxlovid and 135,482 had an adequate COVID-19 vaccination status.
The study demonstrated that both Paxlovid and adequate COVID-19 vaccination status were associated with a significant decrease in the rate of severe COVID-19 or mortality (adjusted HR = 0.54; 95% CI, 0.39-0.75 and aHR = 0.20; 95% CI, 0.17-0.22, respectively). They also found that the effect of Paxlovid was seemingly more significant among older patients, immunosuppressed patients and patients with underlying neurological or cardiovascular disease (P < .05).
“COVID-19 vaccination remains the most effective intervention to prevent disease progression and death among COVID-19 patients,” Najjar-Debbiny said. “However, another effective intervention would be the use of Paxlovid in high-risk patients suffering from a mild to moderate disease.”
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