Dataset Information

Associations of Medications With Lower Odds of Typical COVID-19 Symptoms: Cross-Sectional Symptom Surveillance Study.

ABSTRACT: Background: As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread across the globe, the search for an effective medication to treat the symptoms of COVID-19 continues as well. It would be desirable to identify a medication that is already in use for another condition and whose side effect profile and safety data are already known and approved.

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of different medications on typical COVID-19 symptoms by using data from an online surveillance survey.

Methods: Between early April and late-July 2020, a total of 3654 individuals in Lower Saxony, Germany, participated in an online symptom-tracking survey conducted through the app covid-nein-danke.de. The questionnaire comprised items on typical COVID-19 symptoms, age range, gender, employment in patient-facing healthcare, housing status, postal code, previous illnesses, permanent medication, vaccination status, results of reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and antibody tests for COVID-19 diagnosis, and consequent COVID-19 treatment if applicable. Odds ratio estimates with corresponding 95% CIs were computed for each medication and symptom by using logistic regression models.

Results: Data analysis suggested a statistically significant inverse relationship between typical COVID-19 symptoms self-reported by the participants and self-reported statin therapy and, to a lesser extent, antihypertensive therapy. When COVID-19 diagnosis was based on restrictive symptom criteria (ie, presence of 4 out of 7 symptoms) or a positive RT-PCR test, a statistically significant association was found solely for statins (odds ratio 0.28, 95% CI 0.1-0.78).

Conclusions: Individuals taking statin medication are more likely to have asymptomatic COVID-19, in which case they may be at an increased risk of transmitting the disease unknowingly. We suggest that the results of this study be incorporated into symptoms-based surveillance and decision-making protocols in regard to COVID-19 management. Whether statin therapy has a beneficial effect in combating COVID-19 cannot be deduced based on our findings and should be investigated by further study.

Trial registration: German Clinical Trials Register DRKS00022185; https://www.drks.de/drks_web/navigate.do?navigationId=trial.HTML&TRIAL_ID=DRKS00022185; World Health Organization International Clinical Trials Registry Platform U1111-1252-6946.

SUBMITTER: Urbach D

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7744147 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Associations of Medications With Lower Odds of Typical COVID-19 Symptoms: Cross-Sectional Symptom Surveillance Study.

Urbach Dietmar D Awiszus Friedemann F Leiß Sven S Venton Tamsin T Specht Alexander Vincent De AV Apfelbacher Christian C

JMIR public health and surveillance 20201214 4

<h4>Background</h4>As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread across the globe, the search for an effective medication to treat the symptoms of COVID-19 continues as well. It would be desirable to identify a medication that is already in use for another condition and whose side effect profile and safety data are already known and approved.<h4>Objective</h4>The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of different medications on typical COVID-19 symptoms by using data from an online s ...[more]

PMID: 33197879

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Dataset Information

Associations of Medications With Lower Odds of Typical COVID-19 Symptoms: Cross-Sectional Symptom Surveillance Study.

Publications

Associations of Medications With Lower Odds of Typical COVID-19 Symptoms: Cross-Sectional Symptom Surveillance Study.

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