Association between glucocorticoids treatment and viral clearance delay in patients with COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Evidence of glucocorticoids on viral clearance delay of COVID-19 patients is not clear.

Methods

In this systematic review and meta-analysis, we searched for studies on Medline, Embase, EBSCO, ScienceDirect, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and ClinicalTrials.gov from 2019 to April 20, 2021. We mainly pooled the risk ratios (RRs) and mean difference (MD) for viral clearance delay and did subgroup analyses by the severity of illness and doses of glucocorticoids.

Results

38 studies with a total of 9572 patients were identified. Glucocorticoids treatment was associated with delayed viral clearance in COVID-19 patients (adjusted RR 1.52, 95% CI 1.29 to 1.80, I² = 52%), based on moderate-quality evidence. In subgroup analyses, risk of viral clearance

SUBMITTER: Li J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8514812 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature