The largest study to date on the use of the antimalaria drugs hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine in COVID-19 patients found that the drugs had no benefit, and were instead associated with a higher risk of death in the hospital and serious heart rhythm complications.The observational study, published today in The Lancet, found that a drug regimen of hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine, either alone or with a macrolide antibiotic, was associated with an increased mortality risk of 34% to 45% compared with COVID patients who didn't receive drugs.
Patients who received these drug regimens were between two and five times more likely to experience ventricular arrythmia during hospitalization compared with the control group.The implications of the