{"id":47650,"date":"2020-05-29T18:04:37","date_gmt":"2020-05-29T17:04:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/?p=47650"},"modified":"2020-06-05T18:22:27","modified_gmt":"2020-06-05T17:22:27","slug":"jeffrey-aronson-when-i-use-a-word-hydroxychloroquine-and-torsades-de-pointes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2020\/05\/29\/jeffrey-aronson-when-i-use-a-word-hydroxychloroquine-and-torsades-de-pointes\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeffrey Aronson: When I Use a Word . . . Hydroxychloroquine and torsades de pointes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2014\/12\/jeffrey_aronson.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-32935\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2014\/12\/jeffrey_aronson.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"112\" height=\"138\" \/><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The World Health Organization has announced that it has temporarily halted the hydroxychloroquine arm of its <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.who.int\/emergencies\/diseases\/novel-coronavirus-2019\/global-research-on-novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov\/solidarity-clinical-trial-for-covid-19-treatments\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Solidarity trial<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. This followed the publication in <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Lancet<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> of an <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/32450107\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">analysis of registry data<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> from 671 hospitals in six continents, involving over<br \/>\n96 000 patients who were given either chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine. The results suggested that these 4-aminoquinolines caused increased mortality, which was significantly higher when the drugs were combined with azithromycin or clarithromycin, macrolide antibacterial drugs, and cardiac arrhythmias were significantly more common. The provenance and quality of the data in this study have been <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/science\/2020\/may\/28\/questions-raised-over-hydroxychloroquine-study-which-caused-who-to-halt-trials-for-covid-19\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">questioned<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, and more information is awaited.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Robin Ferner and I have <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bmj.com\/content\/369\/bmj.m1432\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">previously<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> expressed concerns over the use of 4-aminoquinolines in the treatment of covid-19. We had four main concerns:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The hypothesis on which their purported efficacy was premised is weak.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The likelihood of benefit, based on poor mechanistic reasoning, is small.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The high doses of the 4-aminoquinolines that are used in covid-19 increase the risk of adverse drug reactions.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Drug interactions with the 4-aminoquinolines increase the risk of cardiac arrhythmias.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2020\/05\/22\/jeffrey-aronson-when-i-use-a-word-hypotheses-weak-and-strong\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Last week<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> I outlined guidelines for assessing the strength of a hypothesis that predicts a therapeutic outcome, primarily based on the consistency of the evidence. This echoes one of Bradford Hill\u2019s nine guidelines for causation, which he described in 1965, in a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC1898525\/pdf\/procrsmed00196-0010.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">lecture<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> to the Royal Society of Medicine\u2019s Section of Occupational Medicine, titled \u201cThe environment and disease: association or causation?\u201d The question he asked about consistency was \u201chas [the observed association] been repeatedly observed by different persons, in different places, circumstances, and times?\u201d This is what we would nowadays call <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC2677430\/pdf\/186.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">replicability<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In treating viral infections, the 4-aminoquinolines fail the consistency test, as illustrated by studies of chloroquine. In some laboratory experiments chloroquine <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/16115318\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">inhibited viral growth<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, but in cells infected by Epstein-Barr virus it <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/28249048\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">increased<\/span><\/i><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> viral replication. In vivo, it reduced transmission of Zika virus to the offspring of five infected <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/23208422\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">mice<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. However, while it inhibited Ebola virus replication in vitro, it caused rapid worsening of Ebola infection in <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/26459826\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">guinea pigs<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and made no difference to mortality in <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/25988934\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">mice and hamsters<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. It inhibited chikungunya virus in vitro, but worsened the course of infection in <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/29772762\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">macaque monkeys<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Although it <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/25321315\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">inhibited dengue virus<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in some cell cultures it failed to shorten the illness in a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/23903975\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">randomized study<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> of 37 patients, even though it improved some symptoms. And although laboratory studies suggested activity against influenza virus, chloroquine did not prevent infection in <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/21550310\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">a large randomized trial<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In less turbulent times, and in the absence of better rival hypotheses, one might pursue the 4-aminoquinolines in randomized trials, despite this inconsistency. However, when many other stronger hypotheses are available, as is currently the case, to do so wastes time and resources.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">We have discussed our second and third concerns in detail elsewhere, but attention has recently turned to the fourth, that drug-drug interactions might increase mortality in covid-19. A possible mechanism is their effect on cardiac repolarization, prolonging the QT interval on the electrocardiogram (called QT<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> when corrected for heart rate). This is associated with a risk of the polymorphous ventricular tachycardia called torsades de pointes. The risk is increased when drugs that have this effect are used in combination, especially in the presence of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/32266828\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">hypokalaemia<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, to which patients with covid-19 are susceptible, and in <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/30406128\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">elderly people<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">This arrhythmia was first described in 1966 by <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/2036337\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Fran\u00e7ois Dessertenne<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Archives des maladies du coeur et des vaisseaux<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, under the title \u201cLa tachycardia ventriculaire a deux foyers opposes variables\u201d, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/article\/10.1007\/BF01856517\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">reprinted<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in English as \u201cVentricular tachycardia with two variable foci\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Two Oxford-based trials of hydroxychloroquine, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/clinicaltrials.gov\/ct2\/show\/NCT04303507?term=copcov&amp;draw=2&amp;rank=1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">COPCOV<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/isrctn.com\/ISRCTN86534580\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">PRINCIPLE<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, have now been halted, but the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.recoverytrial.net\/files\/recovery-protocol-v6-0-2020-05-14.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">RECOVERY trial<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> continues. While we wait for the results, hoping to learn that our concerns are not justified, Figure 1 and Table 1 provide some insights into the usage and spelling of the name that Dessertenne first gave to this difficult problem in 1969.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-47658\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2020\/05\/aronson_29may2020.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"709\" height=\"470\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2020\/05\/aronson_29may2020.jpg 709w, https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2020\/05\/aronson_29may2020-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2020\/05\/aronson_29may2020-640x424.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 100vw, 709px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><b>Table 1.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Frequencies of different spellings of torsade[s] de[s] pointe[s] in bioscience publications (source PubMed); whether in French, English, or another language; the two most popular spellings are \u201ctorsades de pointes\u201d and \u201ctorsade de pointes\u201d, the former more so, not surprisingly, since it was the spelling that Dessertenne used<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-47659\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2020\/05\/aronson_29may2020_2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"693\" height=\"318\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2020\/05\/aronson_29may2020_2.jpg 693w, https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2020\/05\/aronson_29may2020_2-300x138.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2020\/05\/aronson_29may2020_2-640x294.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 693px) 100vw, 693px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Note: The term, which means \u201ctwisting of the points\u201d, describes the way a ballet dancer spins around while standing on the tips of the shoes; in the cardiac version the electrical axis of the heart twists round in a fancifully similar way, the so-called \u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC487514\/pdf\/brheartj00315-0020.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">cardiac ballet<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><em><strong>Jeffrey Aronson<\/strong>\u00a0is a clinical pharmacologist, working in the Centre for Evidence Based Medicine in Oxford&#8217;s Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences. He is also president emeritus of the British Pharmacological Society.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\"><strong>Competing interests:<\/strong> None declared.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2020\/05\/07\/jeffrey-aronson-when-i-use-a-word-chains-of-exponentials\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-47660 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2020\/05\/aronson_29may2020_3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"702\" height=\"1786\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2020\/05\/aronson_29may2020_3.jpg 702w, https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2020\/05\/aronson_29may2020_3-118x300.jpg 118w, https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2020\/05\/aronson_29may2020_3-402x1024.jpg 402w, https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2020\/05\/aronson_29may2020_3-604x1536.jpg 604w, https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2020\/05\/aronson_29may2020_3-640x1628.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 702px) 100vw, 702px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The World Health Organization has announced that it has temporarily halted the hydroxychloroquine arm of its Solidarity trial. This followed the publication in The Lancet of an analysis of registry [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2020\/05\/29\/jeffrey-aronson-when-i-use-a-word-hydroxychloroquine-and-torsades-de-pointes\/\">More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38359,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5762],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-jeff-aronsons-words"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Jeffrey Aronson: When I Use a Word . . . 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