Colchicine to reduce coronavirus disease-19 related inflammation and cardiovascular complications in high-risk patients post-acute infection with SARS-COV-2—a study protocol for a randomized controlled trial
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Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Background
There is no known effective pharmacological therapy for long COVID, which is characterized by wide-ranging, multisystemic, fluctuating, or relapsing symptoms in a large proportion of survivors of acute COVID. This randomized controlled trial aims to assess the safety and efficacy of an anti-inflammatory agent colchicine, to reduce symptoms among those at high risk of developing long COVID.
Methods
This multi-centre, parallel arm, 1:1 individual randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind superiority trial will enrol 350 individuals with persistent post-COVID symptoms. Participants will be randomized to either colchicine 0.5 mg once daily (< 70 kg) or twice daily (≥ 70 kg) or matched placebo for 26 weeks and will be followed up until 52 weeks after randomization. The primary trial objective is to demonstrate the superiority of colchicine over a placebo in improving distance walked in 6 min at 52 weeks from baseline. The secondary objectives are to assess the efficacy of colchicine compared to placebo with respect to lung function, inflammatory markers, constitutional symptoms, and mental health state. In a sub-sample of 100 participants, cardiac biomarkers of myocardial injury and myocardial oedema using MRI will be compared.
Discussion
Persistent inflammatory response following SARS-CoV-19 is one of the postulated pathophysiological mechanisms of long COVID. Colchicine, a low-cost anti-inflammatory agent, acts via multiple inflammatory pathways and has an established safety profile. This trial will generate evidence for an important health priority that can rapidly translate into practice.
Trial registration
This clinical trial has been registered prospectively on www.clinicaltrials.gov with registration CTRI/2021/11/038234 dated November 24, 2021.
There is no known effective pharmacological therapy for long COVID, which is characterized by wide-ranging, multisystemic, fluctuating, or relapsing symptoms in a large proportion of survivors of acute COVID. This randomized controlled trial aims to assess the safety and efficacy of an anti-inflammatory agent colchicine, to reduce symptoms among those at high risk of developing long COVID.
Methods
This multi-centre, parallel arm, 1:1 individual randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind superiority trial will enrol 350 individuals with persistent post-COVID symptoms. Participants will be randomized to either colchicine 0.5 mg once daily (< 70 kg) or twice daily (≥ 70 kg) or matched placebo for 26 weeks and will be followed up until 52 weeks after randomization. The primary trial objective is to demonstrate the superiority of colchicine over a placebo in improving distance walked in 6 min at 52 weeks from baseline. The secondary objectives are to assess the efficacy of colchicine compared to placebo with respect to lung function, inflammatory markers, constitutional symptoms, and mental health state. In a sub-sample of 100 participants, cardiac biomarkers of myocardial injury and myocardial oedema using MRI will be compared.
Discussion
Persistent inflammatory response following SARS-CoV-19 is one of the postulated pathophysiological mechanisms of long COVID. Colchicine, a low-cost anti-inflammatory agent, acts via multiple inflammatory pathways and has an established safety profile. This trial will generate evidence for an important health priority that can rapidly translate into practice.
Trial registration
This clinical trial has been registered prospectively on www.clinicaltrials.gov with registration CTRI/2021/11/038234 dated November 24, 2021.
Date Issued
2024-06-12
Date Acceptance
2024-05-28
Citation
Trials, 2024, 25
ISSN
1745-6215
Publisher
BMC
Journal / Book Title
Trials
Volume
25
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2024. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.
License URL
Identifier
https://trialsjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13063-024-08205-7
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
378
Date Publish Online
2024-06-12