Efficacy of ribavirin and interferon-α therapy for hospitalized patients with COVID-19: A multicenter, retrospective cohort study

Abstract

\n Objective\n To assess the efficacy and safety of ribavirin and interferon-α (RBV/IFN-α) therapy in patients with COVID-19.\n \n Methods\n This multi-center, retrospective cohort study included patients with COVID-19 admitted to four hospitals in Hubei Province, China, from 31 December, 2019 to 31 March, 2020. Patients were divided into two groups according to their exposure to RBV/IFN-α therapy within 48\u2009hours of admission. Mixed-effect Cox model and Logistic regression were used to explore the association between early treatments of RBV/IFN-α with primary outcomes.\n \n Results\n Of 2037 patients eventually included, 1281 patients received RBV/IFN-α (RBV alone/IFN-α alone/RBV combined with IFN-α) treatments and 756 patients received none of these treatments. In mixed effect model, RBV/IFN-α therapy was not associated with progression from non-severe into severe type (aHR\u2009=\u20091.09, 95%CI: 0.88-1.36) or with reduction in 30-day mortality (aHR\u2009=\u20090.89, 95%CI: 0.61-1.30). However, it was associated with a higher probability of length of hospital stay over 15 days (aOR\u2009=\u20092.11, 95%CI: 1.68-2.64) compared with No RBV/IFN-α therapy. Moreover, the propensity score-matched cohort and subgroup analysis displayed similar results.\n \n Conclusion\n RBV/IFN-α therapy was not observed to any benefit in improving clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19, suggesting that RBV/IFN-α therapy should be avoided in COVID-19 patients.\n