June 23, 2020

Effect of Dexamethasone in Hospitalized Patients with COVID-19 Preliminary Report

Category: Article Summary

Topic: Testing and Treatment

• [pre-print, not peer reviewed] Horby et al. present preliminary results from the open-label randomized RECOVERY trial that found reduced mortality among COVID-19 patients treated with oral dexamethasone (6mg once daily for up to 10 days). Patients in the dexamethasone arm had a 17% lower rate of death by 28 days than those in the control arm (aRR=0.83; 95%CI 0.74, 0.92), with the strongest effect in patients receiving invasive mechanical ventilation (RR=0.65, 95% CI 0.51, 0.82), followed by patients receiving oxygen without invasive mechanical ventilation (RR=0.80, 95% CI 0.70, 0.92). Among patients not receiving respiratory support at randomization, the rate of death was non-significantly higher in the dexamethasone arm (RR 1.22, 95% CI 0.93, 1.61).  

Horby et al. (June 22, 2020). Effect of Dexamethasone in Hospitalized Patients with COVID-19 Preliminary Report. Preprint downloaded June 23 from  https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.06.22.20137273