The association between corticosteroid uses and mortality among severe COVID-19 patients

We read with great interest recent meta-analysis1 by Yang et al, in which they analyzed a total of 5270 patients from 15 studies and found that the use of corticosteroid treatment was associated higher mortality, longer length of stay and a higher rate of bacterial infection among patients with coronavirus infection. By contrast, another meta-analysis2 including 7 randomized controlled trials of a total 1703 patients by WHO Rapid Evidence Appraisal for COVID-19 Therapies (REACT) Working group demonstrated that administration of systemic corticosteroid was associated with a lower 28-day all-cause mortality, compared with usual care or placebo (OR, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.53-0.82 based on a fixed-effect model).
Source: Journal of Infection - Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Tags: Letter to the Editor Source Type: research