Antidepressant Drugs and COVID-19 : A Review of Basic and Clinical Evidence
Mas, Marta (Universitat Pompeu Fabra)
García-Vicente, Juan Antonio (Institut Català de la Salut)
Estrada-Gelonch, Anaïs (TFS Healthcare)
Pérez-Mañá, Clara (Institut Germans Trias i Pujol. Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol)
Papaseit, Esther (Institut Germans Trias i Pujol. Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol)
Torrens, Marta (Hospital del Mar (Barcelona, Catalunya))
Farre, Magi (Institut Germans Trias i Pujol. Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol)
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Date:	2022
Abstract:	The COVID-19 pandemic has encouraged the repurposing of existing drugs as a shorter development strategy in order to support clinicians with this difficult therapeutic dilemma. There is evidence to support the theory that some antidepressants can reduce concentrations of different cytokines in humans and animals and, recently, the antiviral activity of some antidepressants against SARS-CoV-2 has been reported. The aims of this narrative review are to evaluate the possible role of antidepressants in the treatment of COVID-19 infection and the possible benefits and risks of patients taking antidepressants for mental disorders and COVID-19 infection. A review was performed to analyse the current literature to identify the role of antidepressant medication in the treatment of COVID-19 patients. The electronic search was completed in MEDLINE and MedRxiv/BioRxiv for published literature and in ClinicalTrials. gov for ongoing clinical trials. The results show some evidence from preclinical data and observational studies about the possible efficacy of some specific antidepressants for treating COVID-19 infection. In addition, two published phase II studies testing fluvoxamine showed positive results for clinical deterioration and hospitalization rate versus a placebo. Seven ongoing clinical trials testing fluvoxamine, fluoxetine, and tramadol (as per its anti-inflammatory and antidepressant effect) are still in the early phases. Although the available evidence is limited, the sum of the antiviral and anti-inflammatory preclinical studies and the results from several observational studies and two phase II clinical trials provide the basis for ongoing clinical trials evaluating the possible use of antidepressants for COVID-19 infection in humans. Further investigations will be needed to support the possible use of antidepressants for this application.
Grants:	Instituto de Salud Carlos III PI20/00804
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Antidepressant ; Antiviral ; COVID-19 ; Cytokine storm ; Fluoxetine ; Fluvoxamine ; SARS-CoV-2
Published in:	Journal of clinical medicine, Vol. 11 (july 2022) , ISSN 2077-0383

DOI: 10.3390/jcm11144038
PMID: 35887802

21 p, 354.4 KB

The record appears in these collections:
Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Health sciences and biosciences > Institut d'Investigació en Ciencies de la Salut Germans Trias i Pujol (IGTP)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles