COVID-19 Evidence Alerts
from McMaster PLUSTM

Current best evidence for clinical care (more info)

Treatment Davoudi-Monfared E, Rahmani H, Khalili H, et al. A Randomized Clinical Trial of the Efficacy and Safety of Interferon beta-1a in Treatment of Severe COVID-19. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2020 Aug 20;64(9):e01061-20. doi: 10.1128/AAC.01061-20. Print 2020 Aug 20.
Abstract

To the best of our knowledge, there is no published study on the use of interferon ß-1a (IFN ß-1a) in the treatment of severe COVID-19. In this randomized clinical trial, the efficacy and safety of IFN ß-1a were evaluated in patients with severe COVID-19. Forty-two patients in the interferon group received IFN ß-1a in addition to the national protocol medications (hydroxychloroquine plus lopinavir-ritonavir or atazanavir-ritonavir). Each 44-µg/ml (12 million IU/ml) dose of interferon ß-1a was subcutaneously injected three times weekly for two consecutive weeks. The control group consisted of 39 patients who received only the national protocol medications. The primary outcome of the study was time to reach clinical response. Secondary outcomes were duration of hospital stay, length of intensive care unit stay, 28-day mortality, effect of early or late administration of IFN on mortality, adverse effects, and complications during the hospitalization. Between 29 February and 3 April 2020, 92 patients were recruited, and a total of 42 patients in the IFN group and 39 patients in the control group completed the study. As the primary outcome, time to the clinical response was not significantly different between the IFN and the control groups (9.7 ± 5.8 versus 8.3 ± 4.9 days, respectively, P = 0.95). On day 14, 66.7% versus 43.6% of patients in the IFN group and the control group, respectively, were discharged (odds ratio [OR], 2.5; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.05 to 6.37). The 28-day overall mortality was significantly lower in the IFN than the control group (19% versus 43.6%, respectively, P = 0.015). Early administration significantly reduced mortality (OR, 13.5; 95% CI, 1.5 to 118). Although IFN did not change the time to reach the clinical response, adding it to the national protocol significantly increased discharge rate on day 14 and decreased 28-day mortality. (This study is in the Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials under identifier IRCT20100228003449N28.).

Ratings
Discipline / Specialty Area Score
Hospital Doctor/Hospitalists
Internal Medicine
Respirology/Pulmonology
Intensivist/Critical Care
Infectious Disease
Comments from MORE raters

Infectious Disease rater

With such a small sample size, the risk of tipe I error is unaceptable. These results do not provide reliable information for clinical practice.

Respirology/Pulmonology rater

This is a very interesting RCT. However, the analysis was "per protocol" not intention to treat. Since 6 "drop outs" in the treatment group died, the differences in mortality would not be so dramatic as they are presented in the paper.