(HealthDay)—A five-day course of ivermectin does not improve the time to resolution of symptoms compared with placebo for adults with mild COVID-19, according to a study published online March 4 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Eduardo López-Medina, M.D., from the Universidad del Valle in Cali, Colombia, and colleagues randomly assigned 400 adult patients with mild COVID-19 and symptoms for seven days or fewer to receive either ivermectin for five days (200 patients) or placebo (200 patients). Patients were enrolled between July 15 and Nov. 30, 2020, and were followed through Dec. 21, 2020.

The researchers found that the median time to resolution of symptoms was 10 and 12 days in the ivermectin and placebo groups, respectively (hazard ratio for resolution of symptoms, 1.07; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.87 to 1.32; P = 0.53). By day 21, 82 and 79 percent of patients in the ivermectin and placebo groups, respectively, had resolved symptoms. Headache was the most common solicited adverse event, reported by 52 and 56 percent of patients given ivermectin and placebo, respectively. Multiorgan failure was the most common serious adverse event and occurred in four patients (two in each group).

“The findings do not support the use of ivermectin for treatment of mild COVID-19, although larger trials may be needed to understand the effects of ivermectin on other clinically relevant outcomes,” the authors write.

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