Journal of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine 1 J Clin Chem Lab Med, Vol.5 Iss.5 No:1000222 OPEN ACCESS Freely available online Research Article Correspondence to: Femi Babalola, Department of Ophthalmic Surgery and Epidemiology, Bingham University, New Karu, FCT Nigeria, E-mail: Bablo57@gmail.com Received: 11-May-2022, Manuscript No. JCCLM-22-17450; Editor assigned: 16-May-2022, PreQC No. JCCLM-22-17450 (PQ); Reviewed: 30-May-2022, QC No. JCCLM-22-17450; Revised: 06-Jun-2022, Manuscript No. JCCLM-22-17450 (R); Published: 13-Jun-2022, DOI:10.35248/JCCLM.22.5.222 Citation: Babalola F, Ajayi A , Yunusa T, Ndanusa YA, Ogedengbe J, Omede O (2022) Ivermectin is Associated with Increase in SPO 2 in Hypoxemic SARS-CoV-2 Patients: Pharmacodynamic Profile and Correlates. J Clin Chem Lab Med. 5:222 Copyright: © 2022 Babalola F, et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Ivermectin is Associated with Increase in SPO 2 in Hypoxemic SARS-CoV-2 Patients: Pharmacodynamic Profile and Correlates Babalola OE 1* , Ajayi AA 2 , Thairu Y 3 , Ndanusa YA 4 , Ogedengbe JO 5 , Omede O 6 1 Department of Ophthalmic Surgery and Epidemiology, Bingham University, New Karu, FCT Nigeria; 2 Department of Medicine, Baylor college of Medicine, Texas, USA; 3 Department of Microbiology, University of Abuja, Gwagwalada, FCT, Nigeria; 4 Al Ummah Foundation, Abuja, Nigeria; 5 Department of Physiology, University of Abuja, Gwagwalada, FCT, Nigeria; 6 Federal Ministry of Health, Abuja, Nigeria ABSTRACT Background and objectives: Hypoxemic respiratory failure is a common mode of demise in COVID-19 disease. We aimed to describe the time course of SPO 2 changes in COVID-19 patients treated with and without ivermectin. Methods: This was a parallel group, prospective comparative study of propensity matched COVID-19 patients (Cycle threshold Ct<25, SPO 2 <94%). 21 of the patients received Ivermectin (IVM) inclusive regime at 12 mg daily for 5 days, while 26 others received Non-ivermectin Inclusive Regime (NIVM). Results: The IVM group demonstrated earlier and greater increase in SPO 2 (p=0.000) which paralleled greater and faster virological clearance (p=0.000) on Repeat measures Analysis of Variance RMANOVA. There was a significant correlation between absolute SPO 2 and absolute Ct on day 5 (r=0.77) and day 7 (r=0.77) both p=0.000. Incremental SPO 2 also correlated with incremental Ct. by day 5 (r=0.397, p=0.003) and day 7 (r=0.315, p=0.0002) relative to baseline. Increase in platelet count correlated with increased SPO 2 (r=0.252, p=0.029) on IVM, but negatively with NIVM (r=-0.28, p=0.17). Inflammatory markers such as ESR, CRP or D-dimer showed no significant correlation with SPO 2 . Increase in SPO 2 on IVM was magnified in males. Conclusion: IVM regime appears to be associated with faster and greater increase in SPO 2 paralleling faster viral clearance in COVID-19 patients. Keywords: Ivermectin; Arterial oxygen saturation; COVID-19; Viral load INTRODUCTION The COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 has caused global disruptions in all spheres of life, as well as morbidity and mortality in excess of 6 million as of April 2022 [1]. A central feature of this disease, which is commonly the mode of demise, is the variable degree of hypoxemia/respiratory failure (Acute Respiratory Disease Syndrome) [2,3]. This is thought to arise from Immunothrombosis of small pulmonary micro vessels, caused by inflammation, hypercytokinenemia (raised IL-1 beta, IL-6, TNF-alpha) [4,5] and coagulation/microthrombosis, with platelet consumption and fibrinolysis [6,7]. There is also Ventilation/Perfusion (V/Q) mismatch, with perfusion of non-ventilated alveolar spaces in severe COVID-19, and this may contribute to the artetial hypoxemia and consequent reduction in blood oxygen saturation [8]. The SPO 2 % (arterial oxygen saturation) measured by digital arterial pulse oximeter, is further employed in the classification of the severity of COVID-19 patients into mild outpatient, mild in patient, moderate, severe or critical status [9]. Thus, the SPO 2 % is both a diagnostic and prognostic parameter in COVID-19 disease and is adopted by the World Health Organization [10] to classify COVID-19 severity. In addition to vaccines, several novel and repurposed medications have been used to treat or prevent COVID-19 disease [11,12]. Ivermectin has been used both in chemo-prophylaxis, and as a repurposed active treatment of COVID-19, especially in Low and Middle Income Countries [13]. A critical goal of anti COVID-19 therapeutic regime is the reversal of pathophysiological basis of the disease, especially the systemic and pulmonary microthrombosis and cytokine-induced-inflammation, as adumbrated above [11-14]. In this regard, we have previously reported the beneficial effect of Ivermectin on SPO 2 % in a placebo-controlled double blind