Reduced Viral Shedding Time in High-Risk COVID-19 Patients Infected by Omicron and Treated with Paxlovid: A Real-World Study from China

Wei Yang; Yahui Peng; Changsong Wang; Hongliu Cai; Lina Zhang; Jun Xu; Yongjie Wang; Maonan Wang; Mingyan Zhao; Kaijiang Yu

doi:10.2147/IDR.S443574

Reduced Viral Shedding Time in High-Risk COVID-19 Patients Infected by Omicron and Treated with Paxlovid: A Real-World Study from China

Infect Drug Resist. 2024 Mar 29:17:1267-1279. doi: 10.2147/IDR.S443574. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Wei Yang^#¹, Yahui Peng^#¹, Changsong Wang^#¹, Hongliu Cai², Lina Zhang³, Jun Xu², Yongjie Wang⁴, Maonan Wang⁴, Mingyan Zhao¹, Kaijiang Yu¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Critical Care Medicine, the First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, People's Republic of China.
² Department of Critical Care Medicine, the First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, People's Republic of China.
³ Department of Critical Care Medicine, Xiangya Hospital Central South University, Changsha, Hunan Province, People's Republic of China.
⁴ Department of Critical Care Medicine, Jilin Province People's Hospital, Changchun, Jilin Province, People's Republic of China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to compare the viral shedding time in patients infected with the Omicron variant during Paxlovid therapy and conventional therapy and to analyze the effects of Paxlovid on patients infected with COVID-19.

Methods: In this study, the demographic and clinical characteristics and laboratory data of 3159 patients infected with the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant treated at Jilin Province People's Hospital were collected and analyzed. A total of 362 patients received Paxlovid therapy, and 2797 patients received conventional therapy. After propensity score matching (PSM), 1086 patients were obtained.

Results: The difference in platelet (PLT) count between the two groups was statistically significant but within the normal range (P < 0.05). CT value revealed that the nucleic acid test results became negative more quickly in the Paxlovid therapy group. Analysis of the Paxlovid therapy group showed that IgG and IgM levels were increased after Paxlovid therapy administration.

Conclusion: The CT value of the Paxlovid therapy group became negative more quickly. This finding suggests that Paxlovid treatment after early diagnosis of the Omicron variant may achieve good therapeutic efficacy.

Keywords: N-CT; Omicron variant; Paxlovid; a retrospective study.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia Emergency Treatment and Diagnosis Technology Research Project of the Heilongjiang Provincial Science and Technology Department (GA20C001), Natural Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholars of Heilongjiang Province (JQ2021H003), the Key R&D project in Heilongjiang Province of Heilongjiang Province (2022ZX01A30), Basic research business fees for provincial higher education institutions in Heilongjiang Province (2018-KYYWF-0491), Research Project of Health and Health Commission of Heilongjiang Province (2018088), Research Innovation Fund of the First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University (2021M26) and National Multidisciplinary Innovation Team Project of Traditional Chinese Medicine (ZYYCXTD-D-202201).