Effectiveness of levamisole in the treatment of patients with severe COVID-19: a randomized controlled clinical trial
Introduction: Inflammation plays a role in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pathophysiology and anti-inflammatory drugs may help reduce the disease severity. Levamisole is an anthelmintic drug with immunomodulatory and possible antiviral effects. This study aimed to evaluate the role of levamiso...
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The Journal of Infection in Developing Countries
2024-12-01
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| Series: | Journal of Infection in Developing Countries |
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| Online Access: | https://jidc.org/index.php/journal/article/view/18659 |
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| author | Morteza Pourahmad Rasool Soltani Mohammad H Noroozi Farzin Khorvash Behrooz Ataei Manijeh Shams Fatemeh Nikokar |
| author_facet | Morteza Pourahmad Rasool Soltani Mohammad H Noroozi Farzin Khorvash Behrooz Ataei Manijeh Shams Fatemeh Nikokar |
| author_sort | Morteza Pourahmad |
| collection | DOAJ |
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Introduction: Inflammation plays a role in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pathophysiology and anti-inflammatory drugs may help reduce the disease severity. Levamisole is an anthelmintic drug with immunomodulatory and possible antiviral effects. This study aimed to evaluate the role of levamisole in the treatment of patients with COVID-19.
Methodology: In this randomized controlled clinical trial, hospitalized patients with confirmed severe COVID-19 (arterial oxygen saturation < 90%) were randomly assigned to either experimental (n = 41) or control (n = 45) groups. Levamisole 50 mg orally daily was prescribed for the first group until discharge or death, for a maximum of 7 days, along with other standard treatments. Only standard treatments were prescribed to the control group. Clinical response (either improvement or failure) at the end of the fifth and seventh days, changes in laboratory indices, length of hospitalization, and mortality rate during the study were evaluated and recorded.
Results: The rate of clinical improvement in the experimental group was significantly more than in the control group on the fifth (97.6% vs. 58.7%, p < 0.001) and seventh (95.8% vs. 66.7%, p = 0.007) days. Furthermore, the mean length of hospital stays in the experimental group (8.39 ± 3.54 days) was significantly shorter than in the control group (10.78 ± 5.40 days, p = 0.024). No patients died during the study.
Conclusions: Administering levamisole to hospitalized patients with severe COVID-19 reduced hospitalization time and improved several clinical outcomes.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-a8f70e83251a4de0b7067d6ba70e1ef7 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1972-2680 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-12-01 |
| publisher | The Journal of Infection in Developing Countries |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Infection in Developing Countries |
| spelling | doaj-art-a8f70e83251a4de0b7067d6ba70e1ef72025-08-20T02:27:22ZengThe Journal of Infection in Developing CountriesJournal of Infection in Developing Countries1972-26802024-12-011812.110.3855/jidc.18659Effectiveness of levamisole in the treatment of patients with severe COVID-19: a randomized controlled clinical trialMorteza Pourahmad0Rasool Soltani1Mohammad H Noroozi2Farzin Khorvash3Behrooz Ataei4Manijeh Shams5Fatemeh Nikokar6Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, IranInfectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, IranStudents’ Research Committee, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, IranNosocomial Infections Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, IranInfectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, IranHygiene Unit, Al-Zahra Hospital, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, IranStudents’ Research Committee, School of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran Introduction: Inflammation plays a role in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pathophysiology and anti-inflammatory drugs may help reduce the disease severity. Levamisole is an anthelmintic drug with immunomodulatory and possible antiviral effects. This study aimed to evaluate the role of levamisole in the treatment of patients with COVID-19. Methodology: In this randomized controlled clinical trial, hospitalized patients with confirmed severe COVID-19 (arterial oxygen saturation < 90%) were randomly assigned to either experimental (n = 41) or control (n = 45) groups. Levamisole 50 mg orally daily was prescribed for the first group until discharge or death, for a maximum of 7 days, along with other standard treatments. Only standard treatments were prescribed to the control group. Clinical response (either improvement or failure) at the end of the fifth and seventh days, changes in laboratory indices, length of hospitalization, and mortality rate during the study were evaluated and recorded. Results: The rate of clinical improvement in the experimental group was significantly more than in the control group on the fifth (97.6% vs. 58.7%, p < 0.001) and seventh (95.8% vs. 66.7%, p = 0.007) days. Furthermore, the mean length of hospital stays in the experimental group (8.39 ± 3.54 days) was significantly shorter than in the control group (10.78 ± 5.40 days, p = 0.024). No patients died during the study. Conclusions: Administering levamisole to hospitalized patients with severe COVID-19 reduced hospitalization time and improved several clinical outcomes. https://jidc.org/index.php/journal/article/view/18659LevamisoleCOVID-19inflammationimmune responseclinical trial |
| spellingShingle | Morteza Pourahmad Rasool Soltani Mohammad H Noroozi Farzin Khorvash Behrooz Ataei Manijeh Shams Fatemeh Nikokar Effectiveness of levamisole in the treatment of patients with severe COVID-19: a randomized controlled clinical trial Journal of Infection in Developing Countries Levamisole COVID-19 inflammation immune response clinical trial |
| title | Effectiveness of levamisole in the treatment of patients with severe COVID-19: a randomized controlled clinical trial |
| title_full | Effectiveness of levamisole in the treatment of patients with severe COVID-19: a randomized controlled clinical trial |
| title_fullStr | Effectiveness of levamisole in the treatment of patients with severe COVID-19: a randomized controlled clinical trial |
| title_full_unstemmed | Effectiveness of levamisole in the treatment of patients with severe COVID-19: a randomized controlled clinical trial |
| title_short | Effectiveness of levamisole in the treatment of patients with severe COVID-19: a randomized controlled clinical trial |
| title_sort | effectiveness of levamisole in the treatment of patients with severe covid 19 a randomized controlled clinical trial |
| topic | Levamisole COVID-19 inflammation immune response clinical trial |
| url | https://jidc.org/index.php/journal/article/view/18659 |
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