Disulfiram use is associated with lower risk of COVID-19: A retrospective cohort study
Authors
Nguyen, Vinh
Dubreuil, Maureen
Strymish, Judith
Brophy, Mary
Publication Date
2021-10-28Journal Title
PLOS ONE
Publisher
Public Library of Science
Volume
16
Issue
10
Language
en
Type
Article
This Version
VoR
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Fillmore, N., Bell, S., Shen, C., Nguyen, V., La, J., Dubreuil, M., Strymish, J., et al. (2021). Disulfiram use is associated with lower risk of COVID-19: A retrospective cohort study. PLOS ONE, 16 (10) https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0259061
Description
Funder: Harvard Medical School
Funder: VA Cooperative Studies Program
Funder: Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; funder-id: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100007886
Funder: VA Boston Healthcare System
Funder: National Institutes of Health; funder-id: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100000002
Abstract
Effective, low-cost therapeutics are needed to prevent and treat COVID-19. Severe COVID-19 disease is linked to excessive inflammation. Disulfiram is an approved oral drug used to treat alcohol use disorder that is a potent anti-inflammatory agent and an inhibitor of the viral proteases. We investigated the potential effects of disulfiram on SARS-CoV-2 infection and disease severity in an observational study using a large database of clinical records from the national US Veterans Affairs healthcare system. A multivariable Cox regression adjusted for demographic information and diagnosis of alcohol use disorder revealed a reduced risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection with disulfiram use at a hazard ratio of 0.66 (34% lower risk, 95% confidence interval 24–43%). There were no COVID-19 related deaths among the 188 SARS-CoV-2 positive patients treated with disulfiram, in contrast to 5–6 statistically expected deaths based on the untreated population (P = 0.03). Our epidemiological results suggest that disulfiram may contribute to the reduced incidence and severity of COVID-19. These results support carefully planned clinical trials to assess the potential therapeutic effects of disulfiram in COVID-19.
Keywords
Research Article, Biology and life sciences, Medicine and health sciences, Physical sciences
Sponsorship
british heart foundation (RG/4/32218)
National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Disease (NIH/NIAMS) (K23AR069127)
Identifiers
pone-d-21-21930
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0259061
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/330007
Rights
Licence:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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