Efficacy and Safety of Levamisole Treatment in Clinical Presentations of Patients With COVID-19: A Double-Blind, Randomized, Controlled Trial
Abstract
BackgroundIn late December 2019, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was identified as the cause of a series of pneumonia cases in China. Levamisole can show clinical benefits in management of COVID-19 by its immunomodulatory effect, but effect in clinical status of patients is unknown. We evaluated the efficacy of levamisole on clinical status of patients with COVID-19 on days 3, 7, and 14.MethodsThis prospective, double-blind, randomized, and controlled clinical trial was performed in 18- to 60-year-old patients with confirmed COVID-19 from late April 2020 to mid-August 2020. Patients were randomly assigned to two groups to receive a 5-day course of levamisole or placebo in combination with routine care. Results50 patients with COVID-19 were analyzed: 25 patients were in each group. More than half of the infected patients was men too (60%). On days 3 and 14, patients in Levamisole group had significantly better cough status distribution compared with Placebo (P=0.034 and 0.005, respectively). The difference in fever status on days 1, 3, 7, and 14 between two groups was not statistically significant (P > 0.05). There was significant differences between two groups in dyspnea over a median follow-up of 7th (P=0.015) and 14th (P=0.010) days after receiving the interventions. ConclusionThe results of the current study have overall demonstrated that patients receiving levamisole had significantly higher odds of having a better clinical status including…
How strong is the evidence?
Evidence Hub reads this as a randomized trial, done in people. Its evidence level is 3 of 5 (Moderate · trial / cohort / secondary analysis). Trials without a large randomized design, cohorts and secondary analyses give moderate evidence. Reported size: 25 participants or records.
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