Cargando…

The Problem of Home Therapy during COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy: Government Guidelines versus Freedom of Cure?

After starting in late 2019, COVID-19 spread worldwide, and Italy was one of the first Western nations to be seriously affected. At that time, both the virus and the disease were little known and there were no Evidence-Based Medicine indications for treatment. The Italian Health Ministry guidelines...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Fazio, Serafino, Cosentino, Marco, Marino, Franca, Pandolfi, Sergio, Zanolin, Elisabetta, Bellavite, Paolo
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10167757/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37168835
http://dx.doi.org/10.26502/fjppr.055
_version_ 1785038735270739968
author Fazio, Serafino
Cosentino, Marco
Marino, Franca
Pandolfi, Sergio
Zanolin, Elisabetta
Bellavite, Paolo
author_facet Fazio, Serafino
Cosentino, Marco
Marino, Franca
Pandolfi, Sergio
Zanolin, Elisabetta
Bellavite, Paolo
author_sort Fazio, Serafino
collection PubMed
description After starting in late 2019, COVID-19 spread worldwide, and Italy was one of the first Western nations to be seriously affected. At that time, both the virus and the disease were little known and there were no Evidence-Based Medicine indications for treatment. The Italian Health Ministry guidelines claimed that, unless oxygen saturation fell to <92%, no pharmacological treatment was necessary during the first 72 hours, other than on a purely symptomatic basis, preferably with paracetamol. As later confirmed, that delay in therapeutic intervention may have been responsible for numerous hospital admissions and a very high lethality (3.5 %). To try to remedy this situation, several volunteer groups were formed, managing to promptlycure thousands of patients at home with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and a variety of re-purposed drugs (principally hydroxychloroquine, ivermectin) and supplements (such as antioxidants, polyphenols and vitamin D). Although not documented by any randomized controlled studies, these approaches were nonetheless based on the best available evidence, were aimed at addressing otherwise unmet major needs and produced a significant reduction of hospitalizations, of symptom duration, and a complete recovery from the disease compared with late treatment, according to some retrospective observational studies and the clinical experience of many physicians. A prompt discussion, with a clear and open exchange between healthcare Institutions and the said groups of voluntary physicians, could clarify the most effective approaches to reduce the number of hospitalizations and the lethality of this disease.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-10167757
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2022
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-101677572023-05-09 The Problem of Home Therapy during COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy: Government Guidelines versus Freedom of Cure? Fazio, Serafino Cosentino, Marco Marino, Franca Pandolfi, Sergio Zanolin, Elisabetta Bellavite, Paolo J Pharm Pharmacol Res Article After starting in late 2019, COVID-19 spread worldwide, and Italy was one of the first Western nations to be seriously affected. At that time, both the virus and the disease were little known and there were no Evidence-Based Medicine indications for treatment. The Italian Health Ministry guidelines claimed that, unless oxygen saturation fell to <92%, no pharmacological treatment was necessary during the first 72 hours, other than on a purely symptomatic basis, preferably with paracetamol. As later confirmed, that delay in therapeutic intervention may have been responsible for numerous hospital admissions and a very high lethality (3.5 %). To try to remedy this situation, several volunteer groups were formed, managing to promptlycure thousands of patients at home with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and a variety of re-purposed drugs (principally hydroxychloroquine, ivermectin) and supplements (such as antioxidants, polyphenols and vitamin D). Although not documented by any randomized controlled studies, these approaches were nonetheless based on the best available evidence, were aimed at addressing otherwise unmet major needs and produced a significant reduction of hospitalizations, of symptom duration, and a complete recovery from the disease compared with late treatment, according to some retrospective observational studies and the clinical experience of many physicians. A prompt discussion, with a clear and open exchange between healthcare Institutions and the said groups of voluntary physicians, could clarify the most effective approaches to reduce the number of hospitalizations and the lethality of this disease. 2022-08-02 /pmc/articles/PMC10167757/ /pubmed/37168835 http://dx.doi.org/10.26502/fjppr.055 Text en https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
spellingShingle Article
Fazio, Serafino
Cosentino, Marco
Marino, Franca
Pandolfi, Sergio
Zanolin, Elisabetta
Bellavite, Paolo
The Problem of Home Therapy during COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy: Government Guidelines versus Freedom of Cure?
title The Problem of Home Therapy during COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy: Government Guidelines versus Freedom of Cure?
title_full The Problem of Home Therapy during COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy: Government Guidelines versus Freedom of Cure?
title_fullStr The Problem of Home Therapy during COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy: Government Guidelines versus Freedom of Cure?
title_full_unstemmed The Problem of Home Therapy during COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy: Government Guidelines versus Freedom of Cure?
title_short The Problem of Home Therapy during COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy: Government Guidelines versus Freedom of Cure?
title_sort problem of home therapy during covid-19 pandemic in italy: government guidelines versus freedom of cure?
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10167757/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37168835
http://dx.doi.org/10.26502/fjppr.055
work_keys_str_mv AT fazioserafino theproblemofhometherapyduringcovid19pandemicinitalygovernmentguidelinesversusfreedomofcure
AT cosentinomarco theproblemofhometherapyduringcovid19pandemicinitalygovernmentguidelinesversusfreedomofcure
AT marinofranca theproblemofhometherapyduringcovid19pandemicinitalygovernmentguidelinesversusfreedomofcure
AT pandolfisergio theproblemofhometherapyduringcovid19pandemicinitalygovernmentguidelinesversusfreedomofcure
AT zanolinelisabetta theproblemofhometherapyduringcovid19pandemicinitalygovernmentguidelinesversusfreedomofcure
AT bellavitepaolo theproblemofhometherapyduringcovid19pandemicinitalygovernmentguidelinesversusfreedomofcure
AT fazioserafino problemofhometherapyduringcovid19pandemicinitalygovernmentguidelinesversusfreedomofcure
AT cosentinomarco problemofhometherapyduringcovid19pandemicinitalygovernmentguidelinesversusfreedomofcure
AT marinofranca problemofhometherapyduringcovid19pandemicinitalygovernmentguidelinesversusfreedomofcure
AT pandolfisergio problemofhometherapyduringcovid19pandemicinitalygovernmentguidelinesversusfreedomofcure
AT zanolinelisabetta problemofhometherapyduringcovid19pandemicinitalygovernmentguidelinesversusfreedomofcure
AT bellavitepaolo problemofhometherapyduringcovid19pandemicinitalygovernmentguidelinesversusfreedomofcure