Abstract

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the association between doxycycline treatment and severity, as well as mortality, for patients with COVID-19. In addition, to investigate whether this association was changed in cases of concomitant treatment with corticosteroids, remdesivir,  clarithromycin, low molecular weight heparin, or statin.

Material and methods: This is a retrospective cohort study conducted by analyzing electronic medical records of 104 hospitalized patients into the Infectious Disease Ward of a 2068-bed tertiary care medical center, with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 between May 01, 2021 and August 31, 2021. Patients were classified as receiving doxycycline if they were treated with either oral or intravenous drug, at any dose, within ± 7 days of COVID-19 screening and/or hospital admission. Doxycyline use was extracted directly from the electronic medical record.

Results: Current study failed to identify doxycycline as a protective factor associated with a significant reduction in the risk of in-hospital mortality (odds ratio 1.385, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.269-7.140, p = 0.697) or a significant reduction in the risk of intensive care unit (ICU) admission (odds ratio 0.476, 95% CI 0.125-1.813, p = 0.277). However, a non-significant trend towards a lower rate of ICU admission in association with doxycycline prescription was observed.

Conclusions: The results of this study reflect the real-world use of doxycycline does not reduce the risk of in-hospital-mortality or ICU admission of  hospitalized COVID-19 patients.