Baseline characteristics and outcomes of the patient population included in the trials
| Characteristics | Salama et al 9 | Stone et al 10 | Hermine et al 11 | Salvarani et al 12 | Horby et al 13* | Rosas et al 14* |
| Type of study | Double blinded | Double blinded | Open label | Open label | Open label | Double blinded |
| Country | USA | USA | France | Italy | UK | USA |
| Sample size (T/C) | 377 (249/128) | 242 (161/81) | 130 (63/67) | 123 (60/63) | 4116 (2022/2094)† 1868 (935/933) (without ventilation) | 438 (294/144)† 183/90 (without ventilation) |
| Population distribution | Hispanic—56% Others—3.7% | Hispanic—45% Non-Hispanic—49% Others-—6% | NA | NA | NA | White—59.9 (T)/52.8 (C) Black—13.6 (T)/18.1 (C) |
| Mean/median age (years) | T—56.0±14.3 C—55.6±14.9 | T—61.6 (46.4–69.7) C—56.5 (44.7–67.8) | T—64.0 (57.1–74.3) C—63.3 (57.1–72.3) | T—61.5 (51.5–73.5) C—60.0 (54.0–69.0) | T—63.3 C—63.9 | T—60.9±14.6 C—60.6±13.7 |
| Gender (female %) | T—39.8, C—43 | T—40, C—45 | T—30, C—34 | T—33.3, C—43.9 | T—34, C—31 | T—30.3, C—29.9 |
| Body mass index (BMI) | T—32.0±7.9 C—33.1±7.2 | T—29.9 (26.0–34.2) C—30.2 (25.7–33.8) | T—27.9 (23.3–30.8) C—27.4 (24.5–31.3) | T—≥30–38 (32.2%) C—≥30–16 (28.1%) | NA | NA |
| Non-smoker (%) | T—77.1, C—77.3 | T—61, C—59 | T—90, C—93 | NA | NA | NA |
| CRP (mg/L) | T—124.50 (2.5–2099.0) C—143.40 (9.0–3776.0) | T—116.0 (67.1–190.6) C—94.3 (58.4–142.0) | T—119.5 (74.5–219.5) C—127.0 (84.0–171.0) | T—10.5 (5.0–14.6) C—6.5 (3.2–11.8) | T—143 (107–203) C—144 (106–205) | T—157.2 (1.1–446.6) C—150.3 (1.6–499.6) |
| D-dimer (ng/mL) | T—800 (100–4,436,000) C—605 (100–5,192,000) | T—857 (536–1695) C-—980 (500–1739) | T—869 (524–1380) C—1250 (780–1812) | T—756 (480–1070) C—455 (326–0810) | NA | NA |
| Ferritin (mg/L) | T—623 (13–17,491) C—615 (49–55,603) | T—723 (413–1212) C—686 (382–1228) | T—1292 (424–2484) C—1070 (563–1790) | T—646.0 (289.2–1107.5) C—533.5 (351.0–1184.0) | T—947 (497–1599) C—944 (507–1533) | T—1023.59 (0.0–737,427.68) C—979 (44.5–228,749.44) |
| IL-6 (ng/L) | NA | T—23.6 (14.0–49.9) C—25.4 (14.6–40.3) | NA | T—50.4 (28.3–93.2) C—34.3 (19.0–59.3) | NA | T-—88.1 (3.1–4020) C—71.2 (3.1–2810) |
| Patient % who received systemic steroids | 80.3 (T), 87.5 (C) | 11 (T), 6 (C) | 30 (T), 55 (C) | Yes | 82 (T), 82 (C) | 36.1 (T), 54.9 (C) |
| Patient % who received anti-viral | 78.7 (T) 78.9 (C) | 33 (T) 29 (C) | 2 (T) 6 (C) | Yes | 3 (T) 3 (C) | 29.6 (T) 35.4 (C) |
| Follow-up (days) | 60 | 28 | 28 | 30 | 28 | 28 |
| MV/death at 28 day (HR, 95% CI), p value | 0.56 (0.33 to 0.97), 0.04 | 0.66 (0.28 to 1.52), 0.64 | 0.58 (0.26 to 1.23), 0.80 | 1.05 (0.59 to 1.86), 0.87 | 0.85 (0.78 to 0.93), 0.0005 | 0.614 (0.40 to 0.94), 0.03 |
| Death n/N, % | T—26/249, 10.4 C—11/128, 8.6 | T—9/161, 5.6 C—3/81, 3.8 | T—7/63, 11.1 C—8/67, 11.9 , | T—3/60, 3.3 C—1/63, 1.6 | T—571/1754, 33 C—687/1800, 38 | T—58/294, 19.7 C—28/144, 19.4 |
| Weighted difference, 2.0 percentage points; 95% CI: –5.2 to 7.8 | HR 1.52 (0.41 to 5.61) | HR 0.92; 95% CI: 0.33 to 2.53 | Rate ratio (95% CI) 2.10 (0.20 to 22.6) | RR (95% CI) 0.84 (0.69 to 1.03) | 0.3 (–7.6 to 8.2) 0.94 | |
| Overall risk of bias | Low | Low | Low | Low | Low | Low |
| Quality of evidence (grade) | High | High | Moderate | Moderate | Moderate | High |
*RCTs included population with or without mechanical ventilation, reported baseline characteristics and inflammatory markers including all patients; however, reported outcome of MV/death and mortality in last two rows include only non-intubated patients.
†Total population including intubated and non-intubated.
C, control group; CRP, C reactive protein; IL-6, interleukin 6; MV, mechanical ventilation; NA, not available; n/N, number of events/total number; T, treatment group.