The use of ibuprofen to treat fever in COVID-19: A possible indirect association with worse outcome?
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Journal: 2020/June - Medical Hypotheses
Abstract:
Fever has been reported as a common symptom occurring in COVID-19 illness. Over the counter antipyretics such as ibuprofen and acetaminophen are often taken by individuals to reduce the discomfort of fever. Recently, the safety of ibuprofen in COVID-19 patients has been questioned due to anecdotal reports of worsening symptoms in previously healthy young adults. Studies show that ibuprofen demonstrates superior efficacy in fever reduction compared to acetaminophen. As fever may have benefit in shortening the duration of viral illness, it is plausible to hypothesize that the antipyretic efficacy of ibuprofen may be hindering the benefits of a fever response when taken during the early stages of COVID-19 illness.
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PMID: 32505846

The Use of Ibuprofen to Treat Fever in COVID-19: A Possible Indirect Association with Worse Outcome?

Duke University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Durham, NC 27710. USA
Hillsborough, NC 27278, USA
Brenda Jamerson: moc.liamg@sremajb; T. Ho Haryadi: moc.liamg@idayrahoh
Corresponding author. moc.liamg@sremajb
Received 2020 Apr 23; Accepted 2020 May 22.
Copyright © 2020 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Since January 2020 Elsevier has created a COVID-19 resource centre with free information in English and Mandarin on the novel coronavirus COVID-19. The COVID-19 resource centre is hosted on Elsevier Connect, the company's public news and information website. Elsevier hereby grants permission to make all its COVID-19-related research that is available on the COVID-19 resource centre - including this research content - immediately available in PubMed Central and other publicly funded repositories, such as the WHO COVID database with rights for unrestricted research re-use and analyses in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for free by Elsevier for as long as the COVID-19 resource centre remains active.

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