In the face of the recent rebound in coronavirus infection, the research team of the Faculty of Medicine (CU Med) at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) conducted a study on older patients in nursing homes. The result proves that two oral antivirals, Molnupiravir and Nirmatrelvir/ Ritonavir, known as Paxlovid, can lower the risk of hospitalization and inpatient disease progression by 54 percent and 65 to 83 percent, respectively.
CU Medicine collected data from 14,617 older people in Hong Kong diagnosed with COVID-19 between February and March 2022, who are under the care of community elderly assessment teams.
The study subjects aged between 83 to 85 on average. Among them, 35 percent were prescribed Molnupiravir, 3.3 percent took Nirmatrelvir/ Ritonavir, and 61.2 percent did not use oral antivirals.
The research team followed the subjects for 30 days and found the risk of hospitalization decreased by 54 percent, while inpatient disease progression reduced by 65-83 percent after taking oral antivirals.
Professor of the Department of Medicine and Therapeutics and Director of Medical Data Analytics Centre (MDAC) at CU Medicine, Prof. Grace Wong Lai-hung, pointed out that people residing in nursing homes were generally older and frailer than those in the community. Some might also suffer from co-morbidities and disability. Therefore, they would have a higher risk of mortality rate or poor progression if infected with SARS-CoV-2.
Associate Professor (Honorary) of the Division of Geriatrics, Department of Medicine and Therapeutics at CU Medicine, Dr. Bosco Ma Hon-ming, summed up the research.
He said the research was conducted at the peak of the fifth wave of COVID-19 in Hong Kong and believed that the results provided substantial clinical significance in managing older patients with COVID-19 in nursing homes.
Dr. Ma encouraged older people to take oral antivirals as soon as they got infected with the coronavirus to reduce the risk of hospitalization or inpatient disease progression.
The research team also appealed to medical professionals to prescribe oral antivirals for patients in nursing homes to relieve illness and alleviate the burden on the health care system.
