Hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin plus zinc vs hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin alone: outcomes in hospitalized COVID-19 patients

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In univariate analysis, the addition of zinc sulfate to hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin was not associated with a decrease in length of hospital stay, duration of mechanical ventilation, maximum oxygen flow rate, average oxygen flow rate, average
fraction of inspired oxygen, or maximum fraction of inspired oxygen during hospitalization (Table 2). In bivariate logistic regression analysis, the addition of zinc sulfate was associated with decreased mortality or transition to hospice (OR 0.511, 95% CI 0.359-0.726), need for ICU (OR 0.545, 95% CI 0.362-0.821) and need for invasive
ventilation (OR 0.562, 95% CI 0.354-0.891) (Table 3). However, after excluding all noncritically ill patients admitted to the intensive care unit, zinc sulfate no longer was found to be associated with a decrease in mortality (Table 3). Thus, this association was
driven by patients who did not receive ICU care (OR 0.492, 95% CI 0.303-0.799). We also found that the addition of zinc sulfate was associated with likelihood of discharge to home in univariate analysis (OR 1.56, 95% CI 1.16-2.10)

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In other words, it doesn't work until we fiddle with the numbers.