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Colchicine in recently hospitalized patients with COVID-19: A randomized controlled trial (COL-COVID)

Publicated to:International Journal of General Medicine. 14 5517-5526 - 2021-01-01 14(), DOI: 10.2147/IJGM.S329810

Authors: Pascual-Figal DA, Roura-Piloto AE, Moral-Escudero E, Bernal E, Albendín-Iglesias H, Pérez-Martínez MT, Noguera-Velasco JA, Cebreiros-López I, Hernández-Vicente Á, Vázquez-Andrés D, Sánchez-Pérez C, Khan A, Sánchez-Cabo F, García-Vázquez E, COL-COVID Investigators

Affiliations

Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III - Author
CIBERCV - Author
CIBERCV, Ctr Invest Biomed Red Enfermedades Cardiovasc, Madrid, Spain - Author
Ctr Nacl Invest Cardiovasc CNIC, Madrid, Spain - Author
Hospital Universitario Reina Sofía - Author
Hospital Virgen de la Arrixaca - Author
Hospital Virgen de la Arrixaca , Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III , CIBERCV - Author
Univ Murcia, Hosp Univ Reina Sofia, Infect Dis & Internal Med Dept, IMIB Arrixaca, Murcia, Spain - Author
Univ Murcia, Hosp Univ Virgen Arrixaca, Cardiol Dept, IMIB Arrixaca, Murcia, Spain - Author
Univ Murcia, Hosp Univ Virgen Arrixaca, Clin Biochem Dept, IMIB Arrixaca, Murcia, Spain - Author
Univ Murcia, Hosp Univ Virgen Arrixaca, Infect Dis & Internal Med Dept, IMIB Arrixaca, Murcia, Spain - Author
Univ Oxford, Dept Chem, Oxford, England - Author
University of Oxford - Author
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Abstract

Background: Colchicine has been proposed as a potential therapy in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) due to their anti-inflammatory actions. Methods: The COL-COVID study was a prospective, randomized, controlled and open-label clinical trial that compared colchicine added to standard treatment vs standard treatment in hospitalized COVID-19 patients that do not need mechanical ventilatory support. Colchicine was initiated within the first 48 hours of admission at a 1.5 mg loading dose, followed by 0.5 mg b.i.d. for one week and 0.5 mg per day for 28 days. The study endpoints were clinical status (7-points WHO ordinal scale) and inflammatory biomarkers (IL-6 and CRP). Results: A total of 103 patients (51±12 years, 52% male) were randomly allocated to colchicine arm (n=52) and control arm (n=51). At day 28, all patients in the colchicine group were alive and discharged, whereas in the control group, two patients died in-hospital and one patient remained hospitalized. Clinical improvement in terms of changes on WHO scale at day 14 and 28 and time to 1-point clinical improvement did not differ between the two groups. Clinical deterioration (increase of at least 1-point in WHO scale) was observed in a higher proportion of cases in colchicine group (13.8%) vs control group (5.8%) (p=0.303); after adjustment by baseline risk factors and concomitant therapies, colchicine therapy was associated with a lower risk of clinical deterioration (p=0.030). Inflammatory biomarkers CRP and IL-6 concentrations course did not differ between the two arms. Conclusion: In hospitalized COVID-19 patients, colchicine treatment neither improved the clinical status, nor the inflammatory response, over the standard treatment. Nevertheless, a preventive effect for further clinical deterioration might be possible. Trial Registration: NCT04350320.

Keywords

colchicinecovid-19ColchicineCovid-19Inflammation

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal International Journal of General Medicine due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency Scopus (SJR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2021, it was in position , thus managing to position itself as a Q2 (Segundo Cuartil), in the category Medicine (Miscellaneous). Notably, the journal is positioned en el Cuartil Q3 for the agency WoS (JCR) in the category Medicine, General & Internal.

From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from World Citations provided by WoS (ESI, Clarivate), it yields a value for the citation normalization relative to the expected citation rate of: 1.21. This indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: ESI Nov 14, 2024)

This information is reinforced by other indicators of the same type, which, although dynamic over time and dependent on the set of average global citations at the time of their calculation, consistently position the work at some point among the top 50% most cited in its field:

  • Weighted Average of Normalized Impact by the Scopus agency: 3.26 (source consulted: FECYT Feb 2024)
  • Field Citation Ratio (FCR) from Dimensions: 11.92 (source consulted: Dimensions Jun 2025)

Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2025-06-26, the following number of citations:

  • WoS: 23
  • Scopus: 29
  • OpenCitations: 28

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-06-26:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 44.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 44 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 11.4.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 15 (Altmetric).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.

Leadership analysis of institutional authors

This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: United Kingdom.