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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Pharmacology of Infectious Diseases
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2024.1384264

Effectiveness of Molnupiravir for Treating COVID-19 in Patients with Psychiatric Disorders

Provisionally accepted
Ting-Hui Liu Ting-Hui Liu Hsuan-Yi Liao Hsuan-Yi Liao Chih-Cheng Chang Chih-Cheng Chang Chih-Cheng Lai Chih-Cheng Lai *
  • Chi Mei Medical Center, Tainan, Taiwan

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Objectives: This study investigated the clinical effectiveness of molnupiravir for treating non-hospitalized COVID-19 patients with pre-existing psychiatric disorder.This retrospective cohort study used the TriNetX research network to identify patients with psychiatric disorder who experienced non-hospitalized COVID-19 between January 1, 2022, and May 1, 2023. The propensity score matching (PSM) method was used to match patients receiving molnupiravir (treated group) with those who did not (untreated group). The outcome included short-term outcomes -the composite of all-cause hospitalization or death within 30 days and the risk of post-COVID-19 conditions up to a year after COVID-19 diagnosis.Results: Two groups of 9,421 patients, each with balanced baseline characteristics, were identified using the PSM method. During the 30-day follow-up, treated group was associated with a reduced risk of hospitalization or mortality compared to untreated group (HR, 0.760; 95% CI, 0.665-0.869). Compared to untreated group, treated group also exhibited a decreased risk of experiencing post-COVID-19 conditions, including chest/throat pain (HR, 0.615; 95% CI, 0.543-0.696), abnormal breathing (HR, 0.761; 95% CI, 0.687-0.884), abdominal symptoms (HR, 0.748; 95% CI, 0.674-0.831), fatigue (HR, 0.718; 95% CI, 0.638-0.808), headache (HR, 0.753; 95% CI, 0.665-0.852), cognitive symptoms (HR, 0.769; 95% CI, 0.630-0.940), myalgia (HR, 0.647; 95% CI, 0.530-0.789), cough (HR, 0.867; 95% CI, 0.770-0.978), and palpitation (HR, 0.641; 95% CI, 0.534-0.770) during the one-year follow-up.Molnupiravir could be associated with lower rates of all-cause hospitalization or death and also lower risk of post-COVID-19 condition among nonhospitalized COVID-19 patients with pre-existing psychiatric disorder.

    Keywords: COVID-19, Hospitalization, Mortality, Molnupiravir, Psychiatric disorder, SARS-CoV-2, Post-COVID-19 Condition

    Received: 09 Feb 2024; Accepted: 20 Jun 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Liu, Liao, Chang and Lai. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Chih-Cheng Lai, Chi Mei Medical Center, Tainan, 71004, Taiwan

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.