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Am J Cardiol
. 2023 Dec 15:S0002-9149(23)01399-1.
doi: 10.1016/j.amjcard.2023.11.069. Online ahead of print. Cardiovascular Safety of Azithromycin in Patients Hospitalized with Coronavirus Disease 2019: a Pre-Specified Pooled Analysis of the COALITION I and COALITION II Randomized Clinical Trials
Remo Hm Furtado 1 , Pedro Gm Barros E Silva 2 , Henrique Ar Fonseca 3 , Ary Serpa-Neto 4 , Thiago D Correa 3 , Hélio P Guimarães 3 , Adriano J Pereira 5 , Guilherme B Olivato 3 , Fernando G Zampieri 6 , Thiago Lisboa 7 , Debora Lm Junqueira 8 , Maura G Lapa 3 , Frederico Monfardini 3 , Lucas P Damiani 9 , Leandro S Echenique 10 , Otavio E Gebara 11 , Conrado R Hoffman Filho 12 , Carisi A Polanczyk 13 , Luis E Rohde 13 , Roberto Amazonas 14 , Flávia R Machado 15 , Alvaro Avezum 16 , Luciano Cp Azevedo 17 , Viviane C Veiga 18 , Regis G Rosa 19 , Renato D Lopes 20 , Alexandre B Cavalcanti 8 , Otavio Berwanger 21 ; COALITION Covid-19 Brazil Steering Committee and Investigators
Affiliations
The cardiovascular safety from azithromycin in the treatment of several infectious diseases has been challenged. In this pre-specified pooled analysis of two multicenter randomized clinical trials, we aimed to assess whether the use of azithromycin might lead to QTc interval prolongation or clinically relevant ventricular arrhythmias. In the COALITION I I trial, 667 patients admitted with moderate Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) were randomized to hydroxychloroquine, hydroxychloroquine plus azithromycin or standard of care. In the COALITION II trial, 447 patients with severe COVID-19 were randomized to hydroxychloroquine alone versus hydroxychloroquine plus azithromycin. The principal endpoint for the present analysis was the composite of death, resuscitated cardiac arrest or ventricular arrhythmias. The addition of azithromycin to hydroxychloroquine did not result in any prolongation of QTc interval (425.8 ± 3.6 ms versus 427.9 ± 3.9 ms, respectively; mean difference -2.1 ms; 95% CI -12.5 to 8.4 ms; p = 0.70). The combination of azithromycin plus hydroxychloroquine, when compared with hydroxychloroquine alone, did not result in increased risk of the primary endpoint (proportion of patients with events at 15 days 17.2% versus 16.0%, respectively; HR = 1.08; 95% CI 0.78 to 1.49; p = 0.65). In conclusion, in patients hospitalized with COVID-19 already receiving standard of care management (including hydroxychloroquine) the addition of azithromycin did not result in prolongation of QTc interval or increase in cardiovascular adverse events. Because azithromycin is among the mostly prescribed antimicrobial agents, our results may inform clinical practice.
Keywords: COVID-19; QTc interval prolongation; azithromycin; cardiac arrest; cardiac arrhythmia; hydroxychloroquine.
. 2023 Dec 15:S0002-9149(23)01399-1.
doi: 10.1016/j.amjcard.2023.11.069. Online ahead of print. Cardiovascular Safety of Azithromycin in Patients Hospitalized with Coronavirus Disease 2019: a Pre-Specified Pooled Analysis of the COALITION I and COALITION II Randomized Clinical Trials
Remo Hm Furtado 1 , Pedro Gm Barros E Silva 2 , Henrique Ar Fonseca 3 , Ary Serpa-Neto 4 , Thiago D Correa 3 , Hélio P Guimarães 3 , Adriano J Pereira 5 , Guilherme B Olivato 3 , Fernando G Zampieri 6 , Thiago Lisboa 7 , Debora Lm Junqueira 8 , Maura G Lapa 3 , Frederico Monfardini 3 , Lucas P Damiani 9 , Leandro S Echenique 10 , Otavio E Gebara 11 , Conrado R Hoffman Filho 12 , Carisi A Polanczyk 13 , Luis E Rohde 13 , Roberto Amazonas 14 , Flávia R Machado 15 , Alvaro Avezum 16 , Luciano Cp Azevedo 17 , Viviane C Veiga 18 , Regis G Rosa 19 , Renato D Lopes 20 , Alexandre B Cavalcanti 8 , Otavio Berwanger 21 ; COALITION Covid-19 Brazil Steering Committee and Investigators
Affiliations
- PMID: 38104755
- DOI: 10.1016/j.amjcard.2023.11.069
The cardiovascular safety from azithromycin in the treatment of several infectious diseases has been challenged. In this pre-specified pooled analysis of two multicenter randomized clinical trials, we aimed to assess whether the use of azithromycin might lead to QTc interval prolongation or clinically relevant ventricular arrhythmias. In the COALITION I I trial, 667 patients admitted with moderate Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) were randomized to hydroxychloroquine, hydroxychloroquine plus azithromycin or standard of care. In the COALITION II trial, 447 patients with severe COVID-19 were randomized to hydroxychloroquine alone versus hydroxychloroquine plus azithromycin. The principal endpoint for the present analysis was the composite of death, resuscitated cardiac arrest or ventricular arrhythmias. The addition of azithromycin to hydroxychloroquine did not result in any prolongation of QTc interval (425.8 ± 3.6 ms versus 427.9 ± 3.9 ms, respectively; mean difference -2.1 ms; 95% CI -12.5 to 8.4 ms; p = 0.70). The combination of azithromycin plus hydroxychloroquine, when compared with hydroxychloroquine alone, did not result in increased risk of the primary endpoint (proportion of patients with events at 15 days 17.2% versus 16.0%, respectively; HR = 1.08; 95% CI 0.78 to 1.49; p = 0.65). In conclusion, in patients hospitalized with COVID-19 already receiving standard of care management (including hydroxychloroquine) the addition of azithromycin did not result in prolongation of QTc interval or increase in cardiovascular adverse events. Because azithromycin is among the mostly prescribed antimicrobial agents, our results may inform clinical practice.
Keywords: COVID-19; QTc interval prolongation; azithromycin; cardiac arrest; cardiac arrhythmia; hydroxychloroquine.