Association between NSAIDs use and adverse clinical outcomes among adults hospitalised with COVID-19 in South Korea: A nationwide study
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) may exacerbate COVID-19 and worsen associated outcomes by upregulating the enzyme that SARS-CoV-2 binds to enter cells. However, to our knowledge, no study has examined the association between NSAID use and the risk of COVID-19-related outcomes among hospitalised patients.
METHODS
We conducted a population-based cohort study using South Korea’s nationwide healthcare database, which contains data of all subjects who received a test for COVID-19 (n=69,793) as of April 8, 2020. We identified a cohort of adults hospitalised with COVID-19, where cohort entry was the date of hospitalisation. NSAIDs users were those prescribed NSAIDs in the 7 days before and including the date of cohort entry and non-users were those not prescribed NSAIDs during this period. Our primary outcome was a composite of in-hospital death, intensive care unit admission, mechanical ventilation use, and sepsis; our secondary outcome was cardiovascular or renal complications. We conducted logistic regression analysis to estimate odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) using inverse probability of treatment weighting to minimize potential confounding.
FINDINGS
Of 1,824 adults hospitalised with COVID-19 (mean age 490 years, standard deviation 19 0 years; female 59%), 354 were NSAIDs users and 1,470 were non-users. Compared with non-use, NSAIDs use was associated with increased risks of the primary composite outcome (OR 1 65, 95% CI 1-21-2-24) and of cardiovascular or renal complications (OR 187, 95% CI 1-25-2-80). Our main findings remained consistent when we extended the exposure ascertainment window to include the first three days of hospitalisation (OR 187, 95% CI 1 06-3 29).
INTERPRETATION
Use of NSAIDs, compared with non-use, is associated with worse outcomes among hospitalised COVID-19 patients. While awaiting the results of confirmatory studies, we suggest NSAIDs be used with caution among patients with COVID-19 as the harms associated with their use may outweigh their benefits in this population.
FUNDING
Government-wide R&D Fund for Infectious Disease Research (HG18C0068).
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