Current best evidence for clinical care (more info)
The newborn coronaivus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has become the foremost concern of health system worldwide. Interferon typeI (IFN-I) are among the well-known antiviruses. Hence IFN-a have gained much attention as a treatment for COVID-19 recently. To sum up the efficiency of IFN-a against COVID-19, we searched PubMed, SCOPUS, and EMBASE, from the date of genesis to the 1st of October 2020. Discharge from hospital and virus clearance considered as primary and secondary outcomes, respectively. We compared the aforementioned outcomes of patients treated with standard care protocol and the patients treated with IFN-a in addition to standard care protocol. Out of 356 identified records, 14 studies were subjected for full-text screening. Finally, a systematic review was performed with inclusion of five studies. Majority of the participants were males (ranged from 43.50% to 90.0%). We found that time of viral clearance and polymerase chain reaction negative (days) in most studies were decreased in the INF-a + standard care group. The mean days of virus's clearance in INF-a group and standard group reported 27.3 and 32.43. Likewise, the average days of hospitalization was found also lower in INF-a group (18.55 vs. 24.36). This study provides a stand to conclude that early administration of INF-a may be accounted as a promising treatment of COVID-19.
| Discipline / Specialty Area | Score |
|---|---|
| Infectious Disease | |
| Emergency Medicine | |
This is a systematic review of the effectiveness of interferon in reducing time to viral clearance and length of hospitalization for COVID-19 patients. The search for studies was exhaustive and 5 studies were found. Only one was a randomized controlled trial, the rest observational studies. However, in the systematic review, for only 3 of the studies was there a clear comparison of interferon with another treatment. For 3 studies, interferon appeared to reduce time to viral clearance by 3-7 days (from an average of 32 to 27 days). Two studies showed a reduction in hospital stay by 3-7 days (from an average of 26 to 20 days). No statistical analysis of either outcome was given. I conclude that; although there is some evidence that interferon has a benefit, the evidence is not compelling and the evidence of actual clinical benefit (reducing the length of hospital stay) is weak.