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. 2021 Oct:36:100875.
doi: 10.1016/j.ijcha.2021.100875. Epub 2021 Sep 14.

Atorvastatin therapy in COVID-19 adult inpatients: A double-blind, randomized controlled trial

Lotfollah Davoodi  1 , Hamed Jafarpour  2 , Ziaeddin Oladi  3 , Zakaria Zakariaei  4 , Mohammad Tabarestani  2 , Bahareh Moayed Ahmadi  5 , Alireza Razavi  2 , Amirhossein Hessami  2   6   7
Affiliations

Atorvastatin therapy in COVID-19 adult inpatients: A double-blind, randomized controlled trial

Lotfollah Davoodi et al. Int J Cardiol Heart Vasc. 2021 Oct.

Abstract

Introduction: Efficacious therapies are urgently required to tackle the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This trial aims to evaluate the effects of atorvastatin in comparison with standard care for adults hospitalized with COVID-19.

Methods: We conducted a randomized controlled clinical trial on adults hospitalized with COVID-19. Patients were randomized into a treatment group receiving atorvastatin + lopinavir/ritonavir or a control group receiving lopinavir/ritonavir alone. The primary outcome of the trial was the duration of hospitalization. The secondary outcomes were the need for interferon or immunoglobulin, receipt of invasive mechanical ventilation, and O2 saturation (O2sat), and level of C-reactive protein (CRP) which were assessed at the onset of admission and on the 6th day of treatment.

Results: Forty patients were allocated and enrolled in the study with a 1 to 1 ratio in atorvastatin + lopinavir/ritonavir and lopinavir/ritonavir groups. Clinical and demographic characteristics were similar between the two groups. CRP level was significantly decreased in the lopinavir/ritonavir + atorvastatin group (P < 0.0001, Cohen's d = 0.865) so that there was a significant difference in CRP level on the 6th day between the two groups (P = 0.01). Nevertheless, there was no significant difference in O2sat on day 6. Although the duration of hospitalization in the lopinavir/ritonavir + atorvastatin group was significantly reduced compared to the control group (P = 0.012), there was no significant difference in the invasive mechanical ventilation reception and the need for interferon and immunoglobulin.

Conclusion: Atorvastatin + lopinavir/ritonavir may be more effective than lopinavir/ritonavir in treating COVID-19 adult hospitalized patients.

Keywords: Atorvastatin; Coronavirus disease 2019; Inpatients; Lopinavir; Ritonavir.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
CONSORT 2010 flow diagram. LPV/RTV, lopinavir/ritonavir.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Comparison of mean CRP between before and after in two groups.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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