The study of drug utilisation and disease recurrence in patients with
COVID Mucormycosis (CAM) on Posaconazole step-down therapy: an
ambispective study.
Abstract
Background and Purpose: Invasive mucormycosis is a fatal disease caused
by Mucorales species. Treatment therapy for CAM includes aggressive
surgical debridement and systemic antifungals in Amphotericin B and
Posaconazole as step-down therapy in the follow-up period. Despite being
on oral antifungal Posaconazole therapy, patients have been observed to
have a recurrence of mucormycosis in the follow-up period. Experimental
Approach: An ambispective cohort study was done in the department of ENT
and Pharmacology of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS),
Bhubaneswar, from April 2021 to September 2022. It includes patients on
follow-up on the step-down therapy of Posaconazole. Medication adherence
was measured based on the half-life of Posaconazole and participants not
skipping a single dose. Key Results: The demographic data between the
recurrence and non-recurrence groups, including age, sex and duration of
stay, was not significant. Recurrence in mucormycosis was not found to
be associated with medication adherence. By both methods of calculating
medication adherence, the results were statistically insignificant. The
difference in onset of recurrence of the disease between the two groups
was statistically significant, with a p-value of 0.027 in patients who
did not skip a single dose of Posaconazole with a hazard ratio of 3.887.
There was a statistically significant difference in cost-effective
analysis with a p-value of 0.042 between groups. Conclusion and
Implications: Posaconazole medication adherence in the postoperative
period does not affect the recurrence of mucormycosis during step-down
therapy. However, it helps prolong the onset of disease recurrence in
patients adhering to the medication.