Current best evidence for clinical care (more info)
Treatment options for severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) are limited with no clarity on efficacy and safety profiles. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies on patients =18 years reporting data on therapeutic interventions in SARS-CoV-2. Primary outcome was all-cause mortality and secondary outcomes were rates of mechanical ventilation, viral clearance, adverse events, discharge, and progression to severe disease. Pooled rates and odds ratios (OR) were calculated. Twenty-nine studies with 5207 patients were included. Pooled all-cause mortality in intervention arm was 12.8% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 8.1%-17.4%). Mortality was significantly higher for studies using hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) for intervention (OR: 1.36; 95% CI: 0.97-1.89). Adverse events were also higher in HCQ subgroup (OR: 3.88; 95% CI: 1.60-9.45). There was no difference in other secondary outcomes. There is a need for well-designed randomized clinical trials for further investigation of every therapeutic intervention for further insight into different therapeutic options.
Discipline / Specialty Area | Score |
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Respirology/Pulmonology | |
Hospital Doctor/Hospitalists | |
Internal Medicine | |
Infectious Disease | |
Intensivist/Critical Care | |
It didn’t include convalescent plasma or steroids.
This is shooting at a moving target, as studies reported go only through May. However, it is a useful summary showing that no treatment reported showed mortality benefit (and that hydroxychloroquine studies showed increased mortality).
This article may be useful just to the authors' academic career.