Display MoreAnother observational story... not an RCT but I find the amount of observations that I have been personally involved with (not some internet rumor) but actual first hand, is quite interesting.
A while back I posted about a friends elderly aunt in Chicago who tested positive for Covid. Despite being in her mid 80's and having several severe existing health issues, her Covid symptoms were extremely mild, requiring no hospitalization and only resting care. She was a long sufferer of arthritis and on daily HCQ. Interesting.
Today, I had a call from a high school friend I had not talked to for a few years. He stated he tested positive in late March and had some severe flu symptoms, most notability very bad fatigue. It took him several weeks to get over it. His wife also tested positive and had a bad time of it, although neither required hospitalization. They have an adult daughter and grandchild who lives with them. While the daughter was in extreme close contact with both in the household, helping take care of them (before they took the tests to see if they had Covid), she never experienced any symptoms. Because she never experienced symptoms, she has not been tested, but in any case, it is almost certain she was heavily exposed.
Again, observational but very interesting, she has Lupus and takes HCQ daily.
RCT's have been extolled as the only "yard stick" in which to measure effectiveness. Yet RCT's are fraught with error if they are not designed or carried out properly. They take a long time and there is no guarantee that they will not miss a key "ingrediant".
It would seem simple, rather fast and statistically valid if a study was conducted that compared the rates of known Lupus and Arthritic patients, of the same age range that took and did not take HCQ and compare the COVID findings. There evidently is a very large patient base in the US alone that has Lupus or Arthritis. Comparing the patients who take HCQ versus who do not should tell an interesting story.
I expect some here will say that is not an RCT and therefore useless. However, if such a study showed findings such as I have observed in a minute sampling and it was shown the same over 4 or 5 thousand comparative cases, it would be hard to argue.
But then, I doubt no one will do it because it appears that there is a active movement in the US against HCQ. I am starting to see the same type of "anti- Ivermectin" stories circulated as well!
Bob#2,
I agree, these studies cannot be termed “useless” simply because they don’t comply with accepted practices.
They are still “experiences, experiments and observations” (the basis of all science),
of what actually happened.
They may not be definitive, BUT, if they have been replicated by multiple trusted sources, then, they MUST be included when developing theory.
HQC, Am, ZN, probably all have a time, place, dose etc in this process.
We shall see.