Among patients hospitalized for COVID-19, treatment with dexamethasone has reduced mortality at 28 days in patients on mechanical ventilation by 35% or in oxygen-requiring patients by 20% during hospitalization.
This treatment also seems to reduce the length of hospital stay and reduce the risk of an unfavorable respiratory development for patients who are not severe on admission.
- Well conducted randomized controlled trial with significant power
- Preliminary report not giving all the methodological details, however the Recovery study is a large-scale study, carried out by one of the reference teams and the study protocol (on clincicaltrials.gov) is methodologically robust
- Inclusion of COVID-19 suspected patients potentially unconfirmed in the PCR
- Sampling fluctuation with a higher age in the treatment group but adjustment to take into account this potential confounding factor
- Robust statistical models used
- Low rate of missing data but significant variability in the treatment regimen (number of days of treatment)
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