Corticosteroids In Coronavirus Disease-2019 Research Articles

Corticosteroid use in viral pneumonia: experience so far and the dexamethasone breakthrough in coronavirus disease-2019.

Dexamethasone was shown to decrease the mortality in coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) recently. Use of corticosteroids was harmful in other coronavirus infections previously. WHO recommended against routine use of corticosteroids in COVID-19. In view of these, we reviewed the evidence about the use of corticosteroids in virus-induced acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Corticosteroids are beneficial in ARDS regardless of etiology. However, they increased the mortality rate in influenza-associated ARDS. In SARS and the Middle East respiratory syndrome, corticosteroids increased the mortality, delayed the viral clearance and increased the length of hospital stay. In the case of COVID-19, the available evidence from retrospective and observational studies is inconclusive about the corticosteroid use. Low-dose therapies appear to be effective. Evidence from a randomized control study found dexamethasone is effective in decreasing mortality in severe COVID-19 cases. More studies are needed to validate the benefit of corticosteroids in COVID-19.

Efficacy and safety of corticosteroids in COVID-19 based on evidence for COVID-19, other coronavirus infections, influenza, community-acquired pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Very little direct evidence exists on use of corticosteroids in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Indirect evidence from related conditions must therefore inform inferences regarding benefits and harms. To support a guideline for managing COVID-19, we conducted systematic reviews examining the impact of corticosteroids in COVID-19 and related severe acute respiratory illnesses. We searched standard international and Chinese biomedical literature databases and prepublication sources for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and observational studies comparing corticosteroids versus no corticosteroids in patients with COVID-19, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) or Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). For acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), influenza and community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), we updated the most recent rigorous systematic review. We conducted random-effects meta-analyses to pool relative risks and then used baseline risk in patients with COVID-19 to generate absolute effects. In ARDS, according to 1 small cohort study in patients with COVID-19 and 7 RCTs in non-COVID-19 populations (risk ratio [RR] 0.72, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.55 to 0.93, mean difference 17.3% fewer; low-quality evidence), corticosteroids may reduce mortality. In patients with severe COVID-19 but without ARDS, direct evidence from 2 observational studies provided very low-quality evidence of an increase in mortality with corticosteroids (hazard ratio [HR] 2.30, 95% CI 1.00 to 5.29, mean difference 11.9% more), as did observational data from influenza studies. Observational data from SARS and MERS studies provided very low-quality evidence of a small or no reduction in mortality. Randomized controlled trials in CAP suggest that corticosteroids may reduce mortality (RR 0.70, 95% CI 0.50 to 0.98, 3.1% lower; very low-quality evidence), and may increase hyperglycemia. Corticosteroids may reduce mortality for patients with COVID-19 and ARDS. For patients with severe COVID-19 but without ARDS, evidence regarding benefit from different bodies of evidence is inconsistent and of very low quality.