• Hamna Malık, Hira Bınt Abdul Jabbar, Farah Latıf, Azza Sarfraz, Zouina Sarfraz, and Muzna Sarfraz.
• Research, Services Institute of Medical Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan.
• Turk J Med Sci. 2022 Jun 1; 52 (3): 547553547-553.

BackgroundAs SARS-CoV-2 continues to spread worldwide, this study brings to light the link that anakinra, a recombinant IL-1 receptor antagonist, has in averting grave clinical outcomes. The objectives of this meta-analysis are to investigate the effects of anakinra in interventional groups compared to control/standard of care groups on mortality along with the provision of a prevalence estimate of the variables associated with death (C-reactive protein-CRP, ferritin, acute respiratory distress syndrome-ARDS).MethodsAccording to the PRISMA 2020 statement guidelines, a systematic search was conducted from December 19, 2020, until December 10, 2021, with keywords including COVID-19, coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, anakinra, mortality, across the following databases: PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Science, CINAHL Plus, and Cochrane. A random-effects model was applied using RevMan 5.4 for all statistical analyses.ResultsThe meta-analysis pooled in 1297 participants with 565 (43.6%) patients in the anakinra group. When comparing to the control/standard of care group, the anakinra group had a much lower risk of death (RR = 0.47. 95% CI = 0.37-0.59, Z = 6.44; P < 0.001). In addition to the risk of death being reduced by around 50% in the interventional group, prognostic indicators such as CRP and ferritin were improved with fewer occurrences of severe ARDS.DiscussionPatients with COVID-19 pneumonia may be treated with anakinra as a safe and viable treatment modality to defer adverse outcomes such as a death in the 28-day period. Despite an auspicious premise, our findings must be used with caution as adequately powered randomized, placebo-controlled trials are required to corroborate these findings.

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