ORIGINAL: Comparison of the Ivermectin and Lopinavir/Ritonavir Treatment Outcomes among COVID-19 Mild to Moderate Cases in Kaduna State

West Afr J Med . 2022 Feb 28;39(2):140-146.

Abstract

Background: Ivermectin has been a popular anti-parasitic drug since the late 1970s. The promising result of in-vitro studies on the antiviral activity of the drug has led clinicians in many countries to use this drug to treat COVID-19 patients. This study determined and compared the mean number of days at clinical recovery for mild to moderate cases of COVID -19 treated with Lopinavir/Ritonavir (Alluvia) and Ivermectin at the Kaduna State Infectious Disease Control Centres.

Methods: This was a comparative cross-sectional study conducted among 300 mild to moderate COVID- 19 cases enrolled for the study. The outcome variables were the time required for the resolution of symptoms from the onset and at commencement of the treatment regimens. Data were collected from patient folders using a questionnaire. Data were analysed with the IBM SPSS Version 25.0 and STATA/SE 13. Statistical significance was set at p<0.05.

Results: The mean recovery time (MRT) from symptom onset was significantly lower for Covid-19 patients treated with ivermectin (7.15±4.18 days) compared to lopinavir/ritonavir (9.7±5.3 days), 95%CI=7.37-9.62. Multivariate logistic regression showed that there was no significant relationship between the patients age (AOR=0.36, 95%CI=0.09-1.49), sex (AOR=0.34,95%CI=0.54-5.93), educational status (AOR=1.04, 95%CI=0.3-3.57), marital status (AOR=0.55,95%CI=0.14-2.11) place of treatment (AOR=1.66, 95%CI=0.54-5.11) and MRT. There was also no significant relationship between patients' comorbid chronic illness (AOR=0.83, 95%CI=0.27-2.61) and MRT.

Conclusion: The mean recovery time for COVID-19 patients managed with ivermectin was slightly lower than for the lopinavir/ ritonavir regimen.

Recommendation: Clinical trials to further prove the efficacy of Ivermectin as a supportive therapy in clinical management of mild to moderate cases of COVID-19 in this setting should be carried out.

Keywords: Alluvia; COVID-19; Clinical trial; Ivermectin; MRT; Treatment.

A Oyefabi ^1 2 3, S Musa ², H Kambai ³, I Usman ², J Gwamna ³, J Sheyin ³, O Ige ², M Abdullahi ⁴, J Sunday ⁵, H N Kera ^2 5, A Atiku ⁶, H Dauda ⁶, G C Umeh ⁶, T Olasinde ⁷, A Abdullahi ⁸