Abstract:

Objective  To investigate the clinical efficacy of chloroquine phosphate in accelerating thenegative conversion of nucleic acid in patients with common COVID⁃19. Methods  From February 21 to March 8，2020，88 patients with common COVID⁃19 in the Fourth People′s Hospital of Honghu City，Hubei Province，were included in the study. According to the principle of informed consent，they were divided into the treatmentgroup（n = 56）and the control group（n = 32）. We compared the time of first conversion to be negative of novelcoronavirus nucleic acid and the total duration of sickness，hospital stay and hospitalization expenses between thegroups. Within the treatment group we compared counts of white blood cells and lymphocytes，functions of liverand kidney before and after chloroquine phosphate treatment as well as the curative effect in patients of differentage groups. Results  Compared with the control group，the patients in the treatment group experienced signifi⁃cantly quicker negative conversion of COVID⁃19 nucleic acid，shorter hospital stay and less costs and the rate ofrecovered patients tested positive for the coronavirus was significantly lower（P < 0.05）. However，the counts ofwhite blood cells and lymphocytes，functions of liver and kidney showed no significant differences before andafter treatment with chloroquine phosphate. In the treatment group，the time when the nasopharyngeal swab nucleicacid test turned negative for the first time and the first time when the patients in the group aged between 18 to 35years and the group aged between 35 and 50 years were significantly shorter than that in the group aged between50 to 65（P < 0.05）. There was no significant difference between the groups aged 18 to 35 years and 35 ~ 50years（P > 0.05）. Conclusion  Chloroquine phosphate can significantly accelerate negative conversion of nucleic acid in patients with common COVID⁃19，reduce total duration of sickness and the length of hospital stay，lowerthe hospitalization expenses，reduce the rate of recovered patients tested positive again and drug adverse reac⁃tions，but the efficacy of chloroquine phosphate may be influenced by patients′ age.

Key words: chloroquine phosphate, COVID?19, nucleic acid, efficacy