Adelin Kole 1, Suryanti Dwi Pratiwi1, Triwahju Astuti1
1Brawijaya University, Indonesia
Background and Objective: Since the outbreak, a specific treatment for COVID‐19 had not been established and research centers were scrambling to find appropriate treatment for patients. Current medical management is largely supportive with no targeted therapy available. Oseltamivir is an antiviral belongs to neuraminidase enzyme inhibitor in influenza. Isoprinosine is both an immunomodulator and antiviral proven safe for acute respiratory infections. NLR is a reliable, easy to measure, and widely available biomarker of COVID‐19; and its dynamic monitoring could be meaningful in the diagnosis and management of COVID‐19. The aim of this study was to compare the performance of oseltamivir and isoprinosine in improving NLR values in confirmed cases of COVID‐19.
Methods: A cohort of 43 patients, single‐center, with confirmed COVID‐19 admitted to Saiful Anwar General Hospital from February‐September 2020 was retrospectively analyzed. The baseline data of NLR at admission and subsequent NLR monitoring, were collected.
Results: Subjects consisted of 25 patients (58.2%) on oseltamivir therapy and 18 (41.8%) on isoprinosine with mean NLR improvement days of 5.16 and 4.06 days, respectively. Statistical analysis using Mann‐Whitney test showed p value = 0.313.
Conclusion: Isoprinosine provided 1 day faster NLR improvement when compared to Oseltamivir in hospitalized confirmed COVID‐19 patients, although it was not statistically significant. Further investigation is needed to further understand isoprinosine in the management of COVID‐19.
Keywords: COVID‐19, isoprinosine, NLR, oseltamivir.