Cardiology Groups Push Back on Hydroxychloroquine, Azithromycin for COVID-19

The nation's leading cardiology associations urged caution with hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin for COVID-19 in patients with cardiovascular disease.

"Hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin have been touted for potential prophylaxis or treatment for COVID-19; both drugs are listed as definite causes of torsade de pointes" and increase in the risk of other arrhythmias and sudden death, the American Heart Association, the American College of Cardiology, and the Heart Rhythm Society said in a joint statement April 8 in Circulation.

The statement came amid ongoing promotion by the Trump administration of hydroxychloroquine, in particular, for COVID-19 despite lack of strong data.

In addition to underlying cardiovascular disease, "seriously ill patients often have comorbidities that can increase risk of serious arrhythmias," including hypokalemia, hypomagnesemia, fever, and systemic inflammation, the groups said.

They recommended withholding the drugs in patients with baseline QT prolongation (e.g., QTc of at least 500 msec) or with known congenital long QT syndrome; monitoring cardiac rhythm and QT interval and withdrawing hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin if QTc exceeds 500 msec; correcting hypokalemia to levels greater than 4 mEq/L and hypomagnesemia to more than 2 mg/dL; and avoiding other QTc-prolonging agents when possible.

The groups noted that, "in patients critically ill with COVID-19 infection, frequent caregiver contact may need to be minimized, so optimal electrocardiographic interval and rhythm monitoring may not be possible." There is also a possible compounding arrhythmic effect when hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin are used together, but that has not been studied.

There's a known risk of torsade de pointes with chloroquine and a possible risk with the antiviral HIV combination drug lopinavir-ritonavir, two other candidates for COVID-19 treatment. Hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, both antimalarials, might help prevent or treat infection by interfering with angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 receptors, which the COVID-19 virus uses for cell entry, the groups said.

"The urgency of COVID-19 must not diminish the scientific rigor with which we approach COVID-19 treatment. While these medications may work against COVID-19 individually or in combination, we recommend caution with these medications for patients with existing cardiovascular disease," Robert A. Harrington, MD, AHA president and chair of the department of medicine at Stanford (Calif.) University, emphasized in a press release.

SOURCE: Roden DM et al. Circulation. 2020 Apr 8. doi:10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.120.047521.

[[Why don’t you guys trust doctors and their age old testing methods.]]

We do which is why i asked if you actually listened to the doctors on fox news who have been treating patients for many decades proclaiming that the risk is so small that they don’t even consider it-

[[Go look up the studies on the drug for God’s sake.]]

I did look it up- and didn’t find any stats at all- just assumptions that it ‘could cause’- that is hwy i asked if you had any numbers- actual factual numbers- because I’m notr findigfn them

Again- possible side effects does not translate into ‘Certain side effects’

[[At my physical, my doc said Keto diets are not safe. A year later, 30 lbs lighter and with my blood pressure 40 points lower....I’m glad I listened to some folks on the Internet instead!]]

Exactly- folks who looked into the situation and pointed out facts from other doctors that were contradicting what docs like your said at the time- your case is a prime example

I’m seeing two camps lately on this HCQ issue- doctors that seem to be shilling for high priced drugs and years of research, and doctors on the front line, using the drugs the other doctors turn their noses up at, and getting fantastic results, and showing that the drugs HCQ is safe and effective, and showing also that the alarm over the suppsoed ‘dangers’ of the drug are way overblown

I am not usually one who says ‘Doctors are just in it for the money, and don’t case about patients, and only care about kickbacks from drug manufacturers’ but with this particular case- I’m usually the one supporting doctors against such accusations- however, in this case I’m not so sure now- The opposition to a very safe, effective, low cost drug is just mind boggling- especially after seeing doctor after doctor after doctor appearing on Fox news leading with the medical community to stop the nonsense, stop the false information about the supposed ‘prevalent dangers’ of the drug- and get on with fighting this virus with the best medicine we have right now to combat it- HCQ

You can’t find statistics online about how many people die using HCQ, but you sure can find alarming statistics about how many folks are dying from the virus-

More peopel actually do die from water- thjan from HCQ apparnetly- because you can find all kinds of info abotu how many die from dirty water but none on dyign from HCQ

Mostr of the claimed —possible side effects— with HCQ are very treatable under a doctor’s care- IF they shoudl happen, which apparently is a very very rare thing- so rare, that stats are evidently non existent o n the net-

[[Why don’t you guys trust doctors and their age old testing methods. Do you think they don’t want to make you well?]]

Not gonna belabor this discussion, but one more quick point about your question- in almost every case, yes, i trust that doctors want us to be well, however, given the fact that this drug is so safe, used for many many decades with a strong safety record, far safer than many drugs infact, given the fact that I can’t find info on actual factual cases of deaths due to direct result of taking this drug, or find enough case studies showing factual conditions like the ones you mentioned, being caused by thsi drug

I must conclude one of several things- 1: The doctors are simply unaware of the long safety record of this drug (Which i find hard to believe they would be unaware) 2: They are ‘Zero Risk’ Doctors unwilling to take chances no matter how small the risk (In which case they should not be doctors) 3: There is an ulterior motive to their opposition to the drug that has nothing to do with safety seeings how the drug is so safe- 4: There are large numbers of adverse effects that have simply never been posted or made public for 65+ years now, or they have, and I’m just not seeing them-

I don’t want to think it could be #3- I am not a ‘conspiracy’ type person- and have always defended docs against such claims- but my goodness- I’ve never seen such opposition to a drug that is saving countless lives during a crisis- a pandemic- as i have with this drug-

Doctor after doctor after doctor is coming forward, pleading with the medical community, to stop it’s opposition to it- and still we’re seeing doctors opposing it’s use, and seeing msm inflating the ‘dangers’ of the drug making it look like it’s so dangerous that it should be used as a weapon and not a medicine- I’m having a very hard time finding a good reason to believe the holdout doctors when so many good doctors are coming forward pleading for it’s widespread usage- and after seeing so many positive results in studies, tests, and trials- I’m starting to suspect there is an ulterior motive- either that or these opposers are just so Zero Risk, that hey can’t settle their consciences to give the drug to anyone- despite the fact that 10’s of 1000’s of people are dying needlessly-

I’ll leave it at that- i wasn’t attacking you- I am simply providing counter evidences and claims to the msm and anyone with an agenda to prevent the use of this very safe and effective drug-

If you personally feel it is too dangerous to use yourself, then whatever, that’s your prerogative- but when folks make the claim that this drug is ‘causing dangerous side effects’ it would be nice if they backed it up with stats to support the claim- i am unaware of any such stats- which is why i asked for numbers- The msm is making claims they can’t back up with actual stats- they think that just throwing out the possibility that it ‘could cause serious dangerous side effects’ is enough to cause enough panic that people will l reject the drug- Why? Why would they do that during a pandemic? I simply don’t understand the logic given the safety record of this drug for 65+ years now-

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Cardiology Groups Panic After Realizing There's No "Palm Grease" In A $5 Treatment Course Of HCQ