EARLY USE OF REMDESIVIR IN OBESE MALE PATIENTS WITH COVID-19 CAN IMPROVE THE PROGNOSIS
CRISTINA POPESCU 1,2, ALINA IOANA ANDREI 1,2, ALEXANDRA CIREȘĂ 2, FELICIA STURZA 1,2*, FLORIN DUNĂ 2, GABRIEL ADRIAN POPESCU 1,2
1“Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest, Romania 2“Prof. Dr. Matei Balș” National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Bucharest, Romania
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Early use of antivirals, including remdesivir, can be a useful solution in order to avoid severe progression of COVID-19 in patients with risk factors for unfavourable prognosis. Between December 2020 and January 2021, 98 males aged 18 years or older were admitted in our Infectious Diseases department (non-ICU); 47 of them were obese, with a BMI higher than 30 at admission. The study group included male obese patients who started remdesivir treatment during the first week after the symptoms' onset (early treatment); the control group included male obese patients who started remdesivir treatment more than seven days after symptoms' onset (later treatment). Only patients who received five days of remdesivir or more were included in the analysis. We analysed 9 patients with early administration of remdesivir and 27 patients with later treatment. The remdesivir administration was initiated in the first 36 hours after admission in almost all of the patients, in both groups. In the control group, 26/27 needed oxygen therapy (between 4 and 30 L/min) compared to 0/9 in the study group. In the study group, the patients developed only mild pneumonia and only 2 patients received dexamethasone. In conclusion, the remdesivir treatment might be of a greater benefit when initiated during the first five days of the disease, by preventing the evolution towards a severe form of disease and reducing the requirements of corticosteroids administration and oxygen supplementation
