Results
During the periods under investigation, the SEFV-H received 417,484 cases of suspected ADRs, of which, 382,201 cases were notified during the pre-pandemic and 35,283 during the pandemic period (01/03/2020 to 19/02/2021). Of these 417,484 cases of suspected ADRs, in 635 (0.15%) HCQ was reported as the suspected medication. HCQ was first reported to SEFVH in 1991. During the pandemic period, there was an 18.3-fold increase in notifications including HCQ as the suspected drug.
In 366 cases, HCQ was used to treat Covid-19 (58% of all cases with HCQ), whereas in 265 cases HCQ was administered for the treatment of diseases other than Covid-19. In 4 cases, all of them within the pre-pandemic period, HCQ indications were unknown. Consequently, these 4 cases were discarded for analyses. Therefore, our sample was composed of 631 cases in which HCQ was the suspected medication.