SynthesisInfection2024
Is antiviral treatment at the acute phase of COVID-19 effective for decreasing the risk of long-COVID? A systematic review.
Synthesis in Infection, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 23 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 36 citations in OpenAlex.
- Clinical practice guideline for long COVID prevention and treatment.The European respiratory journal · 2026Guideline
- Pooled it
- Long-Term Sequelae of COVID-19: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Symptoms 3 Years Post-SARS-CoV-2 Infection.Journal of medical virology · 2025Pooled it
- Article
- A systems microbiology framework for reproducible multi-dataset omics integration with application to long COVID.Frontiers in systems biology · 2026Article
- COVID-19-associated Autoimmune and Inflammatory Diseases: Molecular Mechanisms and the Role of IVIG Therapy.Clinical reviews in allergy & immunology · 2025Review
- Development and internal validation of a prediction model for post-COVID-19 condition 2 years after infection-results of the CORFU study.Diagnostic and prognostic research · 2025Article
- Multidisciplinary collaborative guidance on the assessment and treatment of patients with Long COVID: A compendium statement.PM & R : the journal of injury, function, and rehabilitation · 2025Article
- Intravenous Administration of Remdesivir at the Acute Phase of SARS-CoV-2 Infection Is Associated with a Lower Prevalence of Post-COVID-19 Pain.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- Neuropsychiatric Manifestations of Long COVID-19: A Narrative Review of Clinical Aspects and Therapeutic Approaches.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Review
- Estimating long COVID-19 prevalence across definitions and forms of sample selection.Frontiers in epidemiology · 2025Article
- Potential associations of selected polymorphic genetic variants with COVID-19 disease susceptibility and severity.PloS one · 2025Article
- Article
- Lights and Shadows of Long COVID: Are Latent Infections the Real Hidden Enemy?Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Review
- The Importance of Including Long COVID Outcomes When Developing Novel Treatments for Acute COVID-19.The Journal of infectious diseases · 2024Article
- Post-viral symptoms and conditions are more frequent in COVID-19 than influenza, but not more persistent.BMC infectious diseases · 2024Article
- Characteristics and predictors of Long Covid in children: a 3-year prospective cohort study.EClinicalMedicine · 2024Article
- Does PI-ME/CFS recall post-COVID (PASC) syndrome?Virus research · 2024Article
- COVID-19 therapeutics.Clinical microbiology reviews · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
11 authors at 10 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposePreliminary evidence suggests a potential effect of antiviral medication used during the acute COVID-19 phase for preventing long-COVID. This review investigates if having received pharmacological treatment during acute SARS-CoV-2 infection may reduce the risk of long-COVID.
methodsMEDLINE, CINAHL, PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science databases, as well as medRxiv/bioRxiv preprint servers were searched up to July 15th, 2023. Articles comparing the presence of long-COVID symptoms between individuals who received or not a specific medication, particularly antivirals, during the acute phase of SARS-CoV-2 infection were included. Methodological quality was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale or Cochrane's Risk of Bias (Rob) tool.
resultsFrom 517 studies identified, 6 peer-reviewed studies and one preprint met all inclusion criteria. The sample included 2683 (n = 4) hospitalized COVID-19 survivors and 307,409 (n = 3) non-hospitalized patients. The methodological quality was high in 71% of studies (n = 5/7). Two studies investigating the effects of Nirmaltrevir/Ritonavir and three studies the effect of Remdesivir reported conflicting results on effectiveness for preventing long-COVID. Three studies investigating the effects of other medication such as Dexamethasone (n = 2) or Metformin (n = 1) found positive results of these medications for preventing long-COVID.
conclusionAvailable evidence about the effect of medication treatment with antivirals during acute COVID-19 and reduced risk of developing long-COVID is conflicting. Heterogeneous evidence suggests that Remdesivir or Nirmaltrevir/Ritonavir could have a potential protective effect for long-COVID. A limited number of studies demonstrated a potential benefit of other medications such as Dexamethasone or Metformin, but more studies are needed.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.