Therapy of acute respiratory viral infections in outpatient practice during the COVID-19 pandemic

Favipiravir is one of the modern medicinal agents able to suppress RNA viruses, which include various pathogens of ARVI. The aim of the research is to assess the safety and tolerability of Areplivir (favipiravir) use in adult patients with mild to moderate ARVI clinical course, who have chronic diseases of organs and systems and who was becoming outpatient treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic, based on the dynamics of their clinical picture and subjective state. Material and methods. A prospective open initiative study of the safety and tolerability of Areplivir medicine was carried out on the basis of 7 outpatient medical institutions in 3 regions of the Russian Federation from December 2021 to March 2022. The study included 137 adult comorbid patients with symptoms of ARVI and a high risk of COVID-19 (based on the epidemiological history), having chronic diseases. Safety and tolerability of favipiravir in the observation group was assessed by identified adverse events in accordance with the scale of degrees of reliability of the cause-and-effect relationship «medicine - adverse reaction». The life quality and its dynamics before and after treatment were determined according to the results of the «COV19-QoL» questionnaire. Results. According to the results of the study in patients, therapy with Areplivir was characterized by a favorable safety profile. According to the doctors, the patients showed good tolerability of the medicine. Only a third of patients (n=46; 33,58%) experienced short-term adverse events (AEs) typical of favipiravir. Such changes were not accompanied by complaints of patients or other clinical manifestations. According to the evaluation of the doctors-researches, there was no causal relationship between the occurrence of AEs and the therapy with the study medicine in 34 (40,96%) of 83 cases. In 25 (30,12%) cases, this connection was possible, in 10 (12,04%) - probable, in 3 (3,61%) - conditional, in 3 (3,61%) - doubtful, in 8 (9,63%) - unclassified. All patients treated with study medicine did not experience significant deterioration of the condition requiring drug withdrawal or hospitalization. Conclusion. Therapy with Areplivir (favipiravir) was characterized by a favorable safety profile and good tolerability in comorbid patients with ARVI. Timely and mandatory prescription of etiotropic targeted antiviral therapy allows, in a pandemic, to reduce the risk of a aggravated course of COVID-19 in case of late diagnosis and, accordingly, reduce the pharmacoeconomic burden on the healthcare system, preventively influencing the possible consequences of RNA-associated respiratory diseases, as well as improve the quality of life of patients.

Areplivir, favipiravir, ARVI, COVID-19 pandemic, ARVI therapy