Table III.

Some selected systematic reviews and meta-analysis of chloroquine/hydroxychloroquine in the treatment of COVID-19

Study	Number of studies (n)	Pooled RR (95% CI)	Toxicity RR (95% CI)	Comments
Elavarasi et al20	Observational - 12 RCT - 3 (CQ/HCQ: Control: 5713:4966)	Mortality: −0.98 (0.66-1.46) Time to fever resolution: −0.54 days (−1.19-0.11) Clinical deterioration: 0.90 (0.47-1.71)	ECG changes/arrhythmias: 1.96 (1.46-2.06)	Quality of evidence was found to be low HCQ/CQ did not improve clinical outcomes
Zang et al21	RCT - 3 Observational - 4 (n=851)	Conversion to negative RT-PCR: 1.11 (0.77-1.59) Rate of exacerbated pneumonia: 0.44 (0.20-0.94) Death: 1.92 (1.26-2.93)	Not available	No robust evidence to support the role of CQ/HCQ in treatment of COVID-19
Wang et al22	42 studies	Death: 1.08 (0.81-1.44) Severe cases: 1.05 (0.61-1.81)	Not available	Significant benefit of HCQ/CQ in the treatment of COVID-19 could not be demonstrated
Yang et al23	9 studies (n=4122)	Increased mortality in CQ/HCQ: 2.34 (1.63-3.36) Viral clearance: 27.18 (1.29-574.32)	No effect on QT prolongation	Faster virological clearance with HCQ and azithromycin combination, but increased mortality risk

HCQ, hydroxychloroquine; RR, relative risk; CI, confidence interval; RCT, randomized controlled trial