Ongoing Need for Clinical Trials and Contemporary End Points for Outpatient COVID-19
The first article reports the results of a living, rapid review that assessed the benefits and harms of different COVID-19 treatments in the outpatient setting. The second article presents living, rapid practice points developed by the Scientific Medical Policy Committee of the American College of Physicians (ACP) to summarize the best available evidence on the treatment of adults with confirmed COVID-19 in the outpatient setting. In the accompanying editorial, the editorialists commend the authors of the review and the practice points for trying to summarize the rapidly evolving literature, and they discuss the challenges of updating reviews and associated recommendations as new evidence emerges and relevant outcomes evolve.
Use these articles and the editorial to:
- Watch the brief video summarizing the systematic review.
- What are the issues raised in the editorial and how should they be addressed in the update of these “living, rapid” documents?
- How would you describe patients with COVID-19 that you have encountered who required only outpatient care? Review factors that identify patients at high risk for progression to severe disease.
- Review the drugs that ACP recommends against using to treat outpatients with COVID-19. How would you respond to a patient requesting ivermectin?
- Review the drugs that ACP recommends using to treat outpatients with COVID-19. If able, consult an infectious disease specialist to review procedures at your institution for obtaining these therapies.
- Visit this page to review a tool for examining drug interactions with nirmatrelvir–ritonavir (Paxlovid) that must be considered when using the drug for outpatient treatment of COVID-19.
Annals of Internal Medicine is the premier internal medicine academic journal published by the American College of Physicians (ACP). It is one of the most widely cited and influential specialty medical journals in the world.
Back to the February 2023 issue of ACP IMpact