Reduction in the Rate of Mortality of Moderate to Severe COVID 19 Infected Patients with the use of Remdesivir - A Tertiary Care Hospital-Based Retrospective Observational Study

BACKGROUND: As the waves of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues, the current treatment modalities emphasize the use of antiviral agents to save the human lives. Even though remdesivir is one of the current recommended modalities, data on the efficacy of remdesivir in reducing the rate of 28-day mortality are still not concurrent in all the reports. AIM: The present study aimed to determine the effectiveness of remdesivir in reducing the rate of mortality in a tertiary care hospital as retrospective comparative analysis. SETTING AND DESIGN: The present study is a retrospective, comparative analysis of accurate and well-documented case files. METHODS: Data (n = 262) of COVID-19–infected patients admitted and treated with remdesivir (Gp R; n = 160) and without remdesivir (Gp NR: n = 102) between June 1, 2021, and November 30, 2021, were collected and analyzed to obtain the results. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: The data from individual case files were transferred to excel files (Microsoft office, Redmond, WA, USA) and then analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Studies (SPSS, IBM, Armonk, NY, USA). The descriptive statistical values were expressed as mean ± standard deviation and number, frequencies/percentages. Student's t-test, Chi-square test, and ANOVA were employed for comparative statistics. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: On analysis of the extracted data, the age, Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation-IV score, and predicted mortality rate between two groups have not shown significant difference (P > 0.05, ANOVA) and were comparable (P > 0.05, ANOVA). Furthermore, the 28-day mortality rate was significantly reduced (P < 0/001) in the Gp R where the rate of mortality was found to be 6.87%, whereas in Gp NR, it was 29.41%. CONCLUSION: Treatment with remdesivir was able to significantly increase the rate of survival of the patients and reduction in day-28 mortality when compared with the patients who had undergone treatment without remdesivir. Therefore, the results of the current retrospective, observational analysis from a tertiary care hospital could also be a piece of remarkable information to a significant number of existing data globally.