• English
    • español
    • português (Brasil)
  • English 
    • English
    • español
    • português (Brasil)
  • Login
View Item 
  •   COVID-19
  • Resources in English
  • Technical documents and research evidence on COVID-19
  • View Item
  •   COVID-19
  • Resources in English
  • Technical documents and research evidence on COVID-19
  • View Item
JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

Retraction and republication: cardiac toxicity of hydroxychloroquine in COVID-19

 
Thumbnail
Date
2020-07-09
Author
Funck-Brentano, Christian
Nguyen, Lee S.
Salem, Joe-Elie
Metadata
Show full item record
Abstract
A recent Lancet Article by Mandeep Mehra and colleagues, which reported adverse events associated with hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine treatment in patients with COVID-19, has been retracted by three of the authors, along with our linked Comment that provided a commentary on the Article and its findings, because the veracity of the data underlying this observational study could not be assured by the study authors. Subsequently, an article that used data from the same Surgisphere database, and which was authored by some of the same individuals, was retracted from the New England Journal of Medicine. Nevertheless, the debate about hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19 continues. Here, we provide a discussion of what is currently known about its proven and potential harms. Hydroxychloroquine is a 4-aminoquinoline that prolongs ventricular repolarisation, as evidenced by prolongation of the QT interval corrected for heart rate (QTc) on the electrocardiogram. QTc prolongation can be associated with a specific ventricular arrhythmia called torsade de pointes, which, although often self-terminating, can degenerate into ventricular tachycardia or fibrillation, leading to death. Torsade de pointes is a rare event, with an estimated annual crude rate of 3·2 per million population; the incidence is almost doubled in women compared with men and increases with age. Drug-induced torsade de pointes mostly occurs by blockade of the cardiac rapid delayed rectifier channels in the presence of several risk factors, including high drug concentration, simultaneous exposure to multiple QTc-prolonging drugs, coronary heart disease, heart failure, hypokalaemia, bradycardia, or congenital long-QT syndrome, among others.
URI
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)31528-2
Collections
  • Technical documents and research evidence on COVID-19

Browse

AllCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesCategorySubjectsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesCategorySubjects

My Account

LoginRegister

Pan American Health Organization
World Health Organization. Regional Office for the Americas
525 Twenty-third Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20037, United States of America

Content Disclaimer (Important notes about the material)

Links

  • WHO International Clinical Trial Registry Platform (ICTRP)
  • WHO Coronavirus disease R&D Blueprint
  • WHO Database of Publications on Coronavirus Disease
  • PAHO Coronavirus Disease
  • PAHO/BIREME Windows of Knowledge COVID-19
  • Evidence aid Coronavirus (COVID-19) resources

  • PAHO Digital Library (IRIS PAHO)
  • Virtual Health Library (VHL)
  • Global Index Medicus (GIM)