Brief Report: Identifying common pharmacotherapies associated with reduced COVID-19 morbidity using electronic health records
AbstractImportanceAbsent a vaccine or any established treatments for the novel and highly infectious coronavirus-19 (COVID-19), rapid efforts to identify potential therapeutics are required.ObjectiveTo identify commonly-prescribed medications that may be associated with lesser risk of morbidity with COVID-19 across 5 Eastern Massachusetts hospitals.DesignIn silico cohort using electronic health records between 7/1/2019 and 4/07/2020. Setting: Outpatient, emergency department and inpatient settings from 2 academic medical centers and 3 community hospitals.ParticipantsAll individuals presenting to a clinical site and undergoing COVID-19 testing.Main Outcome or MeasureInpatient hospitalization; documented requirement for mechanical ventilation.ResultsAmong 12,818 individuals with COVID-19 testing results available, 2271 (17.7%) were test-positive, and 707/2271 (31.1%) were hospitalized in one of 5 hospitals. Based on a comparison of ranked electronic prescribing frequencies, medications enriched among test-positive individuals not requiring hospitalization included ibuprofen, valacyclovir, and naproxen. Among individuals who were hospitalized, mechanical ventilation was documented in 213 (30.1%); ibuprofen and naproxen were also more commonly prescribed among individuals not requiring ventilation.Conclusions and RelevanceThese preliminary findings suggest that electronic health records may be applied to identify medications associated with lower risk of morbidity with COVID-19, but larger cohorts will be required to address confounding by indication. Larger scale efforts at repositioning may help to identify FDA-approved medications meriting study for prevention of COVID-19 morbidity and mortality.Fundingnone.Key PointsQuestionCan electronic health records identify medications that may be associated with diminished risk of COVID-19 morbidity?FindingsThis cohort study across 5 hospitals identified medications enriched among individuals who did not require hospitalization for COVID-19 despite a positive test.MeaningWhile preliminary and subject to confounding, our results suggest that electronic health records may complement efforts to identify novel therapeutics for COVID-19 by identifying FDA-approved compounds with potential benefit in reducing COVID-19-associated morbidity.