Efficacy of dexamethasone treatment for patients with the acute respiratory distress syndrome caused by COVID-19: study protocol for a randomized controlled superiority trial.

ABSTRACT:

Background

There are no specific generally accepted therapies for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The full spectrum of COVID-19 ranges from asymptomatic disease to mild respiratory tract illness to severe pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), multisystem organ failure, and death. The efficacy of corticosteroids in viral ARDS remains unknown. We postulated that adjunctive treatment of established ARDS caused by COVID-19 with intravenous dexamethasone might change the pulmonary and systemic inflammatory response and thereby reduce morbidity, leading to a decrease in duration of mechanical ventilation and in mortality.

Methods/design

This is a multicenter, randomized, controlled, parallel, open-label, superiority trial testing dexamethasone in 200 mech

SUBMITTER: Villar J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7429135 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature