The Use of Unproven Drugs for COVID-19 Treatment in People Living with HIV in Central and Eastern Europe

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00064211%3A_____%2F26%3AW0000096" target="_blank" >RIV/00064211:_____/26:W0000096 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://oadoi.org/10.3390/germs16010006" target="_blank" >https://oadoi.org/10.3390/germs16010006</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/germs16010006" target="_blank" >10.3390/germs16010006</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

The Use of Unproven Drugs for COVID-19 Treatment in People Living with HIV in Central and Eastern Europe

Original language description

Early in 2020, the WHO recommended that existing drugs be evaluated as a repurposed resource to fight the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Here, we investigate the trends of using repurposed and off-label drugs among people living with HIV in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). From November 2020 to May 2021, data on the clinical outcomes of HIV-positive patients diagnosed with COVID-19 were collected on eCRFs (SurveyMonkey (R) platform, Inc. San Mateo, CA, USA). Factors associated with the off-label drugs available at this time (chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine, favipiravir, oseltamivir, and lopinavir/ritonavir) were identified using logistic regression models. Of the 557 HIV-positive patients assessed with COVID-19 disease, 67 (12.0%) received off-label drugs, as well as 11.6% (16/138) of hospitalized and 12.2% (51/419) of ambulatory patients (p = 0.8564). In the adjusted logistic regression model, higher odds of off-label drug use were found in patients who had their diagnoses confirmed by an RT PCR test (aOR 5.08 [95%CI 1.17-22.0], p = 0.0396), and who came from a non-EU region (aOR 6.79 [95%CI 3.51-13.1], p < 0.0001). The only factor decreasing the odds of off-label drug use was co-infection (aOR 0.31 [95%CI 0.10-0.94], p < 0.0395). In a cohort of HIV patients from the CEE, 12% were prescribed off-label drugs for COVID-19. Symptomatic patients with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection or who were from non-EU countries were more likely to receive a repurposed drug. Drug repurposing is an immediate solution to emerging pandemics. All data regarding the safety and effectiveness of such use should be monitored, reported, and publicly available. Access patterns within and outside the EU should be analyzed to prevent potential inequalities in access to care during epidemics in European settings.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

30303 - Infectious Diseases

Project

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Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2026

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

GERMS

ISSN

2248-2997

e-ISSN

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Volume of the periodical

16

Issue of the periodical within the volume

1

Country of publishing house

CH - SWITZERLAND

Number of pages

9

Pages from-to

-

UT code for WoS article

001726941800001

EID of the result in the Scopus database

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