Long Covid treatment: randomized, quadruple-blind, parallel-group, phase 3 trial
thelancet.com
thelancet.com
The reason I mention this is SSRIs. In modern controlled trials, they show a placebo level effect on many things they're still actively used to treat. And that's quite impressive given the dramatic side effects of them, making a double blind study essentially impossible. And so in any domain where psychosomatic issues may play a role, which is arguably most of everything, it would seem that projections contrasted against outcomes would be quite informative.
"In conclusion, early outpatient COVID-19 treatment with metformin decreased the subsequent risk of long COVID by 41·3% during 10-month follow-up. This finding is consistent with the 42·3% reduction in health-care utilisation for severe COVID-19 with metformin in the first 14 days of the trial. Fluvoxamine and ivermectin did not decrease the risk of long COVID, which was also consistent with the findings for severe COVID-19 outcomes by day 14. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve, all therapeutics require further prospective, interventional trials to assess long COVID incidence, including among people who have received vaccination and booster vaccination, and people with previous SARS-CoV-2 infection. "
Is 4•1% some kind of notation?
> Outpatient treatment with metformin reduced long COVID incidence by about 41%, with an absolute reduction of 4.1%, compared with placebo.
The 4.1% is just decimal, using the middle-dot typographical version of decimal point.
Both figures are applicable and have different meanings. It's just a coincidence that they have the same digits this time.
Rough summary: The 41% is comparing the effect of metformin vs placebo metformin, both administered following protocols. It means nearly half of people (meeting the study criteria - age range, etc.) who would have got long Covid (as reported at 300 days) wouldn't get it if they took metformin following the protocol within 3 days of their positive Covid PCR test.
The 4.1% says how many fewer people got long Covid after getting Covid (and meeting the study criteria - age range, PCR test timing etc), that was attributable to having the real metformin. It doesn't tell you that it moved the needle from 10.4% of people (who had Covid etc) getting long Covid down to 6.3% (both as reported at 300 days). But it does tell you the difference between those figures, which is how many people's lives (4.1% of those people who had Covid etc) would likely be improved by taking it and following the protocol.