[mft_]

> 1) The ages and BMI:

> > The median age was 45 years (IQR 37–54) and median BMI was 29·8 kg/m2

Not sure what the problem is here? The age seems nicely representative without being too young (deal with COVID better) or too old (deal with COVID worse; and higher liklihood of comorbidities). The BMI is a little high, but then we know that larger people have a higher COVID risk, so maybe this makes sense? Either way, given this is a study of treatment effects, and the BMI was well-balanced between both groups, meaning it's reasonable to assume that it didn't affect the overall findings.

> The hazard ratio 95% confidence interval extends to 0.99 when treatment is started within three days. This is not a strong result. 1.0 is no effect.

The hazard ratio itself is 0.37, which is a pretty strong effect, and the effect is statistically significant. (Also, slight correction: the upper bound of the hazard ratio is 0.95 when treatment is started within three days.)

[svnt]

The issue I mentioned in reply to another comment below is that metformin, the medication they were having success with, is more commonly used as a treatment for type 2 diabetes.