Recently presented at the congress of the French Society of Pharmacology and Therapeutics (SFPT), a study carried out by the University of Lyon and cited by the medical press agency APM newsThursday June 16, 2022, reports that hydroxycloroquine was thought to have led to the death of 16,274 people from eight countries during the first wave of Covid-19.
Under review, this study highlights an excess mortality of 11% due to taking this drug constantly praised by the highly publicized Pr Raoult, explains The Parisian. In other words, this molecule would increase the risk of dying by 11%. To isolate this figure, the scientists analyzed the number of hospitalized Covid patients from March to mid-July 2020 as well as the rate of use of hydroxychloroquine in each of the eight countries examined.
A number to relativize
The differences between countries are considerable. There were reportedly between six deaths from hydroxychloroquine in Brazil and 10,821 in the United States. In France, the number of deaths attributed to the drug during the first half of 2020 oscillates between 115 and 293. According to the authors of the study, the number of 16,274 deaths due to the molecule is probably underestimated due to the lack of data. . The Parisian further specifies that a total of 9,484 deaths was initially put forward at the congress, but the authors have since readjusted the data.
According to certain experts contacted by the Ile-de-France daily, this number must however be put into perspective, the study by the University of Lyon having some limits. Lack of knowledge of the actual prescription rates in each country is one of them. The uncertainties linked to other parameters not taken into account, such as the number of indirect deaths, are another. “We are not trying to produce an exact result, we especially wanted to show what the concrete consequences can be when a potentially toxic drug is prescribed”reacted one of the authors of the study.