May 11, 2020

Association of Treatment With Hydroxychloroquine or Azithromycin With In-Hospital Mortality in Patients With COVID-19 in New York State

Eli S. Rosenberg, PhD¹; Elizabeth M. Dufort, MD²; Tomoko Udo, PhD¹; et alLarissa A. Wilberschied, MS²; Jessica Kumar, DO²; James Tesoriero, PhD²; Patti Weinberg, PA³; James Kirkwood, MPH²; Alison Muse, MPH²; Jack DeHovitz, MD^3,4; Debra S. Blog, MD²; Brad Hutton, MPH²; David R. Holtgrave, PhD¹; Howard A. Zucker, MD²

Author Affiliations Article Information

JAMA. Published online May 11, 2020. doi:10.1001/jama.2020.8630

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Key Points

Question Among patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), is there an association between use of hydroxychloroquine, with or without azithromycin, and in-hospital mortality?

Findings In a retrospective cohort study of 1438 patients hospitalized in metropolitan New York, compared with treatment with neither drug, the adjusted hazard ratio for in-hospital mortality for treatment with hydroxychloroquine alone was 1.08, for azithromycin alone was 0.56, and for combined hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin was 1.35. None of these hazard ratios were statistically significant.

Meaning Among patients hospitalized with COVID-19, treatment with hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin, or both was not associated with significantly lower in-hospital mortality.