The impact of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin on the corrected qt interval in patients with the novel Coronavirus disease 2019.

OBJECTIVE

With the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) continuing to spread all over the world, although there is no specific treatment until now, hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin have been reported to be effective in recent studies. Although long-term use of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin has been reported to cause QT prolongation and malign arrhythmia, there is not enough data about the effect of short-term use on arrhythmia. Therefore, this study aims to assess the effect of hydroxychloroquine alone and hydroxychloroquine + azithromycin on corrected QT (QTc).

METHODS

A baseline electrocardiogram and on-treatment baseline electrocardiogram were retrospectively collected in COVID-19 patients who received hydroxychloroquine and/or azithromycin. The QTc interval was calculated, and the baseline and peak QTc intervals were compared. In addition, the peak QTc intervals of monotherapy and combination therapy were compared.

RESULTS

Of the 155 patients included, 102 (65.8%) patients were using hydroxychloroquine, and 53 (34.2%) patients were using hydroxychloroquine + azithromycin combination. The use of both hydroxychloroquine alone and hydroxychloroquine + azithromycin combined therapy significantly prolonged the QTc, and the QTc interval was significantly longer in patients receiving combination therapy. QTc prolongation caused early termination in both groups, 5 (4.9%) patients in the monotherapy group and 6 (11.3%) patients in the combination therapy group.

CONCLUSION

In this study, patients who received hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of COVID-19 were at high risk of QTc prolongation, and concurrent treatment with azithromycin was associated with greater changes in QTc.