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. 2022 Dec 7;12(12):2047.
doi: 10.3390/life12122047.

Hospital-Based Quasi-Experimental Study on Hydroxychloroquine Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis for COVID-19 in Healthcare Providers with Its Potential Side-Effects

Lubaba Shahrin  1   2 , Mustafa Mahfuz  2 , Md Waliur Rahman  2 , Md Rezaul Hossain  3 , Afsana Mim Khandaker  4 , Md Ashraful Alam  2 , Din M M F Osmany  5 , Md Munirul Islam  2 , Mohammod Jobayer Chisti  1   2 , Chaudhury Meshkat Ahmed  5 , Tahmeed Ahmed  2
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Hospital-Based Quasi-Experimental Study on Hydroxychloroquine Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis for COVID-19 in Healthcare Providers with Its Potential Side-Effects

Lubaba Shahrin et al. Life (Basel). .

Abstract

Considering that it has been more than 24 months since SARS-CoV-2 emerged, it is crucial to identify measures that prevent and control pathogen transmission in workplace settings. Our aim was to report results of a hospital-based program that delivered hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) tablets as COVID-19 prophylaxis to the frontline healthcare workers (HCW)s who cared for COVID-19 patients and to evaluate the efficacy of HCQ. Setting and participants: Quasi-experimental, controlled, single-center study. The included participants were doctors, nurses, health workers, cleaning staff, and non-healthcare supportive staff. The main outcome was contracting COVID-19 anytime during the period of taking the prophylaxis, confirmed by RT-PCR. A total of 336 participants, without any clinical evidence of COVID-19 and without any known contact with family members, were included in the trial; 230 were assigned to HCQ and 106 declined to take any drug. Results: Among the participants, 43 (18.7%) in the HCQ group and 11 (10.4%) participants in the control group developed COVID-19. For the evaluation of side effects, we evaluated 12-lead ECGs of both groups at the baseline and after 4 weeks to monitor QTc interval. A total of 91% (198 of 217) participants in the prophylaxis group and 92% (11 of 12) in the control group had a QTc < 45o msec, which is within normal limits. Conclusions: Although the number of symptomatic infections in health personnel was lower in the control group, the difference was not statistically significant. However, in the absence of any effective pre-exposure prophylaxis medicine for COVID-19, practicing proper infection prevention and control (IPC) and vaccination is the only way forward.

Keywords: COVID-19; corrected QT interval; healthcare workers; hydroxychloroquine; preexposure prophylaxis.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
CONSORT flow diagram of quasi-experimental study of HCQ use in healthcare providers.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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