Only glucocorticoids have been shown to have an effect on COVID-19’s negative results. However, their risk/benefit analysis is still ambiguous, and the peculiarities of the populations should be taken into account. For a study, researchers sought to establish the type, cumulative dosages, and in-hospital outcomes associated with the administration of glucocorticoids in patients with severe COVID-19 who were hospitalized in a third-level referral facility. They looked at 737 individuals who met the criteria for severe COVID-19 and had a positive SARS-CoV-2 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test. They gathered the information for epidemiological studies, medical histories, medicines, and baseline laboratory testing. SPSS 21.0 was used to analyze the data, which included nonparametric tests, medians, and interquartile ranges (IQR). A p<0.05 was judged significant.
A total of 65.3% of the participants were men, with a median age of 59 years (IQR 46–70) and a median hospital stay of 10 days (IQR 6–16). More than 40% of the participants had diabetes, hypertension, or obesity, and 0.8% took steroids on a long-term basis. About 54.0% had been released owing to improvement at the time of the study, whereas 40.8% had died. Dexamethasone (6 mg/day/10 days) was the most often utilized therapy (46.6% ). In comparison to patients receiving lower doses (HR 1.803, 95% CI 1.080–3.012), patients receiving a complete dexamethasone scheme [as proposed by the Randomized Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy (RECOVERY) study] had a lower mortality risk [hazard ratio (HR) 0.441, 95% CI 0.232–0.840]. Patients who took methylprednisolone or a combination of steroids had greater cumulative doses (equivalent to >675 mg prednisolone).
Only at the level indicated in the RECOVERY research in the younger group can the administration of steroids in severe COVID-19 minimize death. In patients who were older or had a larger number of comorbidities, there was no advantage to using steroids.
Reference:journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/20420188211072704
