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Meta-Analysis
. 2023 Aug;45(4):2179-2193.
doi: 10.1007/s11357-023-00756-y. Epub 2023 Mar 7.

Results of a systematic review and meta-analysis of early studies on ivermectin in SARS-CoV-2 infection

Zsuzsanna Ragó  1 , Barbara Tóth  2 , Ágnes Szalenko-Tőkés  1   3 , Zsolt Bella  1   3 , Fanni Dembrovszky  4   5 , Nelli Farkas  4   6 , Szabolcs Kiss  1   4 , Péter Hegyi  4   5   7 , Mária Matuz  8 , Noémi Tóth  8 , Imre Hegedüs  9 , Domokos Máthé  10   11 , Dezső Csupor  4   8
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Results of a systematic review and meta-analysis of early studies on ivermectin in SARS-CoV-2 infection

Zsuzsanna Ragó et al. Geroscience. 2023 Aug.

Abstract

Ivermectin, an antiparasitic drug, has been repurposed for COVID-19 treatment during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Although its antiviral efficacy was confirmed early in vitro and in preclinical studies, its clinical efficacy remained ambiguous. Our purpose was to assess the efficacy of ivermectin in terms of time to viral clearance based on the meta-analysis of available clinical trials at the closing date of the data search period, one year after the start of the pandemic. This meta-analysis was reported by following the PRISMA guidelines and by using the PICO format for formulating the question. The study protocol was registered on PROSPERO. Embase, MEDLINE (via PubMed), Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), bioRvix, and medRvix were searched for human studies of patients receiving ivermectin therapy with control groups. No language or publication status restrictions were applied. The search ended on 1/31/2021 exactly one year after WHO declared the public health emergency on novel coronavirus. The meta-analysis of three trials involving 382 patients revealed that the mean time to viral clearance was 5.74 days shorter in case of ivermectin treatment compared to the control groups [WMD = -5.74, 95% CI (-11.1, -0.39), p = 0.036]. Ivermectin has significantly reduced the time to viral clearance in mild to moderate COVID-19 diseases compared to control groups. However, more eligible studies are needed for analysis to increase the quality of evidence of ivermectin use in COVID-19.

Keywords: COVID-19; Ivermectin; Meta-analysis; SARS-CoV-2; Systematic review.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
PRISMA flow diagram for identification of relevant studies: 322 records that only reported in vitro or animal experiments, or were review papers were excluded. After screening titles and abstracts, 6 publications were retrieved for qualitative synthesis [–30], of which three clinical trials were included in the quantitative analysis [–29] (Table 1)
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The effect of ivermectin treatment on time to viral clearance
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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