In a study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, researchers found metoprolol, a drug widely used to treat heart disease, is beneficial when administered to COVID-19 patients.
In a previous study, the team discovered that metoprolol, a well-established beta-blocker, has a highly selective effect on hyperactivated neutrophils during situations of acute stress such as a heart attack.
In this study, the team postulated that metoprolol might be an effective treatment for patients with severe COVID-19.
The team assigned 20 intubated COVID-19 patients to receive intravenous metoprolol (15 mg per day over 3 days) or to a control group that did not receive metoprolol.
They found that the metroprolol treatment strongly reduced neutrophil infiltration of the lungs and improved oxygenation.
There was a clear trend among the metoprolol-treated patients to require fewer days on mechanical ventilation and therefore a shorter stay in the ICU.
In another study published in Nature Communications, Imperial College London researchers found drugs typically used to treat prostate cancer could be explored for treating patients with COVID-19.
In the study, the team found that the androgen-blocking drug enzalutamide—a well-tolerated drug widely used in advanced prostate cancer— also reduced the ability of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus to infect lung cells in the lab.
Importantly, they found that the treatment strongly reduced SARS-CoV-2 entry and infection in lung cells.
The researchers say their study adds to a growing body of evidence from groups around the world, supporting further clinical trials to assess the efficacy of anti-androgens as a potential treatment for COVID-19.
In a third study published in PLOS Medicine, Karolinska Institutet researchers found that statin treatment slightly lowers COVID-19 mortality.
Statins are used to lower the cholesterol level—the lipid count—in the blood and are a common preventative treatment in patients at high risk of cardiovascular events.
In the study, the team used data from Swedish registers and followed 963,876 residents of Stockholm over the age of 45 between March and November 2020.
They found that statin treatment was linked to a slightly lower risk of dying from COVID-19, a correlation that did not vary significantly among risk groups.
The results suggest that statin treatment can have a moderate prophylactic effect on COVID-19 mortality.
The findings support the continued use of statins for conditions such as heart disease and high levels of blood lipids in line with current recommendations during the COVID-19 pandemic.
If you care about COVID, please read studies about old drug that could lower death risk caused by COVID-19, and why some people cannot resist COVID-19 like others.
For more information about Covid, please see recent studies about who has the highest risk of heart damage in COVID-19, and results showing that scientists find your maximum risks of COVID infection with and without masks.
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