A new study by researchers at the US Department of Veterans Affairs shows that Paxlovid not only reduces risk of hospitalization and death from Covid 19, but also reduces the risk of long Covid.
Analysis and records were posted on Saturday to the preprint server medRxiv, not yet peer-reviewed or published in a medical journal.
According to the analysis, nine thousand people with Covid treated with Paxlovid had a 26% reduced risk of developing several long Covid conditions, including heart disease, blood disorders, fatigue, liver disease, kidney disease, muscle pain, neurocognitive impairment, and shortness of breath.
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Patients included in the study had an average age of 65 and were diagnosed with Covid-19 between March 1 and June 30, 2022. They all had at least one risk factor for progression to severe Covid-19, such as older age, diabetes or being a current smoker.
Paxlovid reduced the risk of long Covid in people who were unvaccinated, vaccinated and boosted, and in people experiencing their first Covid-19 infection or a reinfection, the study said.
“Paxlovid reduces the risk of severe COVID-19 in the acute phase, and now, we have evidence that it can help reduce the risk of long COVID. This treatment could be an important asset to address the serious issue of long COVID.” Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, chief of research and development at the VA St. Louis Health Care System and leader of the study, said in a news release.
Limitations for this study include majority of participants were White and male, which might limit its relevance more generally.
The analysis captured Paxlovid use only through the VA system and considered only 12 long Covid conditions.
Paxlovid, made by Pfizer and comes as pills taken over five days, is an antiviral treatment for Covid-19 that combines a newer antiviral, nirmatrelvir, with an older drug, ritonavir.
“The totality of evidence suggests the need to improve uptake and utilization of nirmatrelvir in the acute phase as a means of not only preventing progression to severe acute disease, but to also reduce the risk of post-acute adverse health outcomes,” authors of the VA study wrote.
Paxlovid is available for people as young as 12 years.