Exposure to valproic acid is associated with less pulmonary infiltrates and improvements in diverse clinical outcomes and laboratory parameters in patients hospitalized with COVID-19.

Background: Valproic acid (VPA) has shown beneficial effects in vitro against SARS-CoV-2 infection, but no study has analyzed its efficacy in the clinical setting.

Methods: This multicenter, retrospective study included 165 adult patients receiving VPA at the time of admission to hospital, and 330 controls matched for sex, age and date of admission. A number of clinical, outcome and laboratory parameters were recorded to evaluate differences between the two groups.