Abstract
Background
Favipiravir is a promising drug for COVID-19, but evidence from a robust clinical trial is limited.
Objective
To describe the demographics, clinical characteristics, and various antiviral treatment regimens (with and without favipiravir) of patients with severe and nonsevere COVID-19.
Method
We conducted a retrospective observational study in all COVID-19 patients admitted at Bamrasnaradura Infectious Diseases Institute (BIDI) from January 8 to March 30, 2020. We compared the demographics, clinical characteristics, and various antiviral treatment regimens of 12 severe and 29 nonsevere COVID-19 patients in Thailand.
Results
Adjunctive favipiravir was given to only severe cases. The median length of hospitalization of patients either receiving favipiravir or not receiving favipiravir was not significantly different (P = 0.8549), but those who received adjunctive favipiravir became reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction negative 2 days sooner than the other group (median: 6 days vs. 8 days; P = 0.1125).
Conclusion
The findings suggested that adjunctive favipiravir might not be effective for patients with severe COVID-19, but further studies with larger sample sizes are needed.