September 3, 2020

Effect of Dexamethasone on Days Alive and Ventilator-Free in Patients With Moderate or Severe Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome and COVID-19

Category: Article Summary

Topic: Testing and Treatment

Keywords (Tags): treatment

• Intravenous dexamethasone plus standard of care compared with standard care alone resulted in 2.3 days (95%CI 0.02-4.4, p=0.04) more ventilator-free days during the first 28 days in a randomized clinical trial among patients with COVID-19 who had moderate to severe respiratory failure (n=299) in Brazil.
• The trial was stopped early before reaching the planned sample size of 350 patients following publication of a related study.

Tomazini et al. (Sept 2, 2020). Effect of Dexamethasone on Days Alive and Ventilator-Free in Patients With Moderate or Severe Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome and COVID-19. JAMA. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2020.17021