May 14, 2020

Early Safety Indicators of COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma in 5000 Patients

Category: Article Summary

Topic: Testing and Treatment

• Joyner et al. evaluated the safety of transfusing ABO-compatible human COVID-19 convalescent plasma among 5,000 hospitalized adults with severe COVID-19 disease. Only 36 (<1%) serious adverse events were reported in the first four hours after transfusion, only 2 of which were judged by the treating physician to be related to the convalescent plasma transfusion. Although this study lacked a control group, these findings suggest that transfusion of convalescent plasma is safe in hospitalized patients with severe COVID-19 disease.  

Joyner et al. (May 14, 2020). Early Safety Indicators of COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma in 5000 Patients. Pre-print downloaded May 14 from https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.12.20099879