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‘Gout drug colchicine does not provide additional benefit to supportive care in the management of COVID-19 patients but it is associated with high side effect risk.’
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In a bid to clarify its safety and effectiveness, researchers searched databases looking for relevant comparative clinical trial data on the use of the drug for the treatment of COVID-19 infection, published up to July 2021.![twitter](https://images.medindia.net/icons/news/social/twitter.png)
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They also wanted to find out if the drug reduced death risk, the need for ventilatory support, intensive care admission, and length of hospital stay; and if its use was associated with any particular side effects.
They applied the Grades of Recommendation, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) approach to assess the quality of the evidence for each of these outcomes.
Observational studies, laboratory studies, animal studies, and studies with fewer than 10 participants were all excluded.
Out of 69 full texts assessed, 6 randomized controlled trials involving 16,148 patients with varying degrees of severity of COVID-19 were included in the data analysis.
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Patients taking colchicine also had 58% higher rates of side effects and almost double the risk of diarrhea than those given supportive care.
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The analysis findings on colchicine should be interpreted cautiously due to the inclusion of open-labeled randomized clinical trials. The analysis of efficacy and safety outcomes is based on a small number of randomized controlled trials] in control interventions.
Source-Medindia