September 25, 2020

Efficacy of corticosteroid treatment for hospitalized patients with severe COVID-19: a multicenter study

Category: Article Summary

Topic: Testing and Treatment

Keywords (Tags): treatment

• Corticosteroid treatment of COVID-19 patients was not statistically significantly associated with lower mortality across all patients with COVID-19, but there was significantly lower mortality among the sub-group of patients with severe respiratory failure. A multicenter observational study (February 22 to June 30, 2020) found that 170 of 513 COVID-19 patients were treated with corticosteroids, and corticosteroid treatment was not significantly associated with lower 30-day mortality (aOR=0.59, p=0.33). In a subgroup analysis among 135 patients with severe respiratory failure (PO2/FiO2 < 200 mmHg) at admission, corticosteroid treatment was associated with lower risk of 30-day mortality (aOR=0.2, p = 0.04). [EDITORIAL NOTE. The lack of a statistically significant overall treatment effect should be interpreted with caution because the study was insufficiently precise to detect a clinically meaningful effect]

Bartoletti et al. (Sept 21, 2020). Efficacy of corticosteroid treatment for hospitalized patients with severe COVID-19: a multicenter study. Clinical Microbiology and Infection. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmi.2020.09.014