• Yashwitha Sai Pulakurthi, John M Pederson, Kavitha Saravu, Nitin Gupta, Prasanth Balasubramanian, Shelby Kamrowski, Megan Schmidt, Charan Thej Reddy Vegivinti, Mahmoud Dibas, Natalie L Reierson, Sailaja Pisipati, Betsy Ann Joseph, Pragadeesh Thamarai Selvan, Adam A Dmytriw, Praneeth Reddy Keesari, Varsha Sriram, Spandana Chittajallu, Waleed Brinjikji, Rewanth R Katamreddy, Richa Chibbar, Amber R Davis, Manashree Malpe, Hemant K Mishra, Kevin M Kallmes, Ameer E Hassan, and Kirk W Evanson.
• Kamineni Academy of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, Hyderabad, Telangana, India.
• Medicine (Baltimore). 2021 May 21; 100 (20): e25719e25719.

BackgroundCorticosteroid treatment is an effective and common therapeutic strategy for various inflammatory lung pathologies and may be an effective treatment for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis of current literature was to investigate the clinical outcomes associated with corticosteroid treatment of COVID-19.MethodsWe systematically searched PubMed, medRxiv, Web of Science, and Scopus databases through March 10, 2021 to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that evaluated the effects of corticosteroid therapies for COVID-19 treatment. Outcomes of interest were mortality, need for mechanical ventilation, serious adverse events (SAEs), and superinfection.ResultsA total of 7737 patients from 8 RCTs were included in the quantitative meta-analysis, of which 2795 (36.1%) patients received corticosteroids plus standard of care (SOC) while 4942 (63.9%) patients received placebo and/or SOC alone. The odds of mortality were significantly lower in patients that received corticosteroids as compared to SOC (odds ratio [OR] = 0.85 [95% CI: 0.76; 0.95], P = .003). Corticosteroid treatment reduced the odds of a need for mechanical ventilation as compared to SOC (OR = 0.76 [95% CI: 0.59; 0.97], P = .030). There was no significant difference between the corticosteroid and SOC groups with regards to SAEs and superinfections.ConclusionCorticosteroid treatment can reduce the odds for mortality and the need for mechanical ventilation in severe COVID-19 patients.Copyright © 2021 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.

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