Comparison of the efficacy of equivalent doses of dexamethasone, methylprednisolone, and hydrocortisone for treatment of COVID-19-related acute respiratory distress syndrome: a prospective three-arm randomized clinical trial

Background This prospective controlled clinical trial aimed to compare the efficacy of methylprednisolone, dexamethasone, and hydrocortisone at equivalent doses in patients with severe COVID-19. Methods In total, 106 patients with mild to moderate COVID-19-related acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) were randomized to receive either dexamethasone (6 mg once a day), methylprednisolone (16 mg twice a day), or hydrocortisone (50 mg thrice a day) for up to 10 days. All participants received a standard of care for COVID-19. The primary and secondary efficacy outcomes included all-cause 28-day mortality, clinical status on day 28 assessed using the World Health Organization (WHO) eight-category ordinal clinical scale, number of patients requiring mechanical ventilation and intensive care unit (ICU) care, number of ventilator-free days, length of hospital and ICU stay, change in $ PaO_{2} $:$ FiO_{2} $ ratios during the first 5 days after treatment, and incidence of serious adverse events. P-values below 0.008 based on Bonferroni’s multiple-testing correction method were considered statistically significant. Results According to the obtained results, there was a trend toward more favorable clinical outcomes in terms of needing mechanical ventilation and ICU care, number of ventilator-free days, change in $ PaO_{2} $:$ FiO_{2} $ ratios during the first 5 days after treatment, clinical status score at day 28, length of ICU and hospital stay, and overall 28-day mortality in patients receiving dexamethasone compared to those receiving methylprednisolone or hydrocortisone; however, likely due to the study’s small sample size, the difference between groups reached a significant level only in the case of clinical status score on day 28 (p-value = 0.003). There was no significant difference in the incidence of serious adverse events between the study groups. Conclusion Based on the results, severe cases of COVID-19 treated with dexamethasone might have a better clinical status at 28-day follow-up compared to methylprednisolone and hydrocortisone at an equivalent dose. Larger multicenter trials are required to confirm our findings..

Medienart:	E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:	2023
Erschienen:	2023

Enthalten in:	Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:173
Enthalten in:	Wiener medizinische Wochenschrift - 173(2023), 5-6 vom: 09. Jan., Seite 140-151

Sprache:	Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:	Taher, Abbas [VerfasserIn] Lashkari, Marjan [VerfasserIn] Keramat, Fariba [VerfasserIn] Hashemi, Seyyed Hamid [VerfasserIn] Sedighi, Ladan [VerfasserIn] Poorolajal, Jalal [VerfasserIn] Mehrpooya, Maryam [VerfasserIn]

Links:	Volltext [lizenzpflichtig]

Themen:	Corticosteroids Cytokine storm Mechanical ventilation Mortality SARS-CoV-19 infection Severe COVID-19 pneumonia

Anmerkungen:	© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Austria, ein Teil von Springer Nature 2022

doi:	10.1007/s10354-022-00993-4

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PPN (Katalog-ID):	SPR049883240