Effects of Tocilizumab in COVID-19 patients: a cohort study

Abstract Background: Due to the lack of proven therapies, we evaluated the effects of early administration of tocilizumab for COVID-19. By inhibition of the IL-6 receptor, tocilizumab may help to mitigate the hyperinflammatory response associated with progressive respiratory failure caused by SARS-CoV-2. Methods: A retrospective, observational study was conducted on hospitalized adults who received intravenous tocilizumab for COVID-19 between March 23, 2020 and April 10, 2020. Results: Most patients were male (66.7%), Hispanic (63.3%) or Black (23.3%), with a median age of 54 years. Tocilizumab was administered at a median of 8 days (range 1-21) after initial symptoms and 2 days (range 0-12) after hospital admission. On the day of administration, the median PaO2/FiO2 was 166 (range 33-523) and 50 patients (83.3%) had ARDS. By day 30, 36 patients (60.0%) demonstrated clinical improvement, 9 (15.0%) died, 33 (55.0%) were discharged alive, and 18 (30.0%) remained hospitalized. Successful extubation occurred in 13 out of 29 patients (44.8%). Infectious complications occurred in 16 patients (26.7%) at a median of 10.5 days. There was an increase in PaO2/FiO2 and an initial reduction in CRP that was not sustained beyond day 10. Conclusions: Majority of patients demonstrated clinical improvement and were successfully discharged from the hospital alive after receiving tocilizumab. Similar to previous studies, infectious complications were not uncommon. We observed a rebound effect with CRP, which may suggest the need for higher or subsequent doses to adequately manage cytokine storm. Based on our findings, we believe that tocilizumab may have a role in the treatment of COVID-19, however randomized controlled studies are urgently needed..

Medienart:

Preprint

Erscheinungsjahr:

2022

Erschienen:

2022

Enthalten in:

ResearchSquare.com - (2022) vom: 29. Juli Zur Gesamtaufnahme - year:2022

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Vu, Christine [VerfasserIn]
Deronde, Kailynn J [VerfasserIn]
Vega, Ana D [VerfasserIn]
Maxam, Meshell [VerfasserIn]
Holt, Gregory [VerfasserIn]
Natori, Yoichiro [VerfasserIn]
Zamora, Jose Gonzales [VerfasserIn]
Salazar, Veronica [VerfasserIn]
Boatwright, Renata [VerfasserIn]
Morris, Stephen R [VerfasserIn]
Corvino, Daniela de Lima [VerfasserIn]
Betances, Anmary Fernandez [VerfasserIn]
Colucci, Leah [VerfasserIn]
keegan, James [VerfasserIn]
Lopez, Andy [VerfasserIn]
Rezk, Andrew Hany [VerfasserIn]
Rodriguez, Yvette [VerfasserIn]
Doblecki, Susanne [VerfasserIn]
Zerda, David De La [VerfasserIn]
Abbo, Lilian M [VerfasserIn]

Links:

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Themen:

570
Biology

doi:

10.21203/rs.3.rs-49532/v2

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

XRA034377336