Early use of low dose tocilizumab in patients with COVID-19: A retrospective cohort study with a complete follow-up.
EClinicalMedicine
; 25: 100459, 2020 Aug.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-32838235
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Pneumonia with severe respiratory failure represents the principal cause of death in COVID-19, where hyper-inflammation plays an important role in lung damage. An effective treatment aiming at reducing the inflammation without preventing virus clearance is thus urgently needed. Tocilizumab, an anti-soluble IL-6 receptor monoclonal antibody, has been proposed for treatment of patients with COVID-19.METHODS:
A retrospective cohort study at the Montichiari Hospital, Brescia, Italy, was conducted. We included consecutive patients with COVID-19 related pneumonia at the early stage of respiratory failure, all treated with a standard protocol (hydroxychloroquine 400 mg daily, lopinavir 800 mg plus ritonavir 200 mg per day). We compared survival rate and clinical status in a cohort of patients who received additional treatment with tocilizumab once (either 400 mg intravenous or 324 mg subcutaneous) with a retrospective cohort of patients who did not receive tocilizumab (referred to as the standard treatment group). All outcomes were assessed at the end of the follow-up, that correspond to death or complete recovery and discharge from the hospital.FINDINGS:
158 patients were included, 90 of which received tocilizumab. 34 out of 68 (50%) patients in the standard treatment group and 7 out of 90 (7.7%) in the tocilizumab group died. Tocilizumab significantly improved survival compared to standard care (multivariate HR 0.057; 95% C.I = 0.017- 0.187, p < 0.001). No differences between the two administration routes of tocilizumab were observed. No tocilizumab-related infections and/or side effects were observed.INTERPRETATION:
Early treatment with tocilizumab could be helpful to prevent excessive hyper-inflammation and death in COVID-19 related pneumonia. Low dose administration of tocilizumab is not associated with adverse events.FUNDING:
none.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Type of study:
Etiology_studies
/
Guideline
/
Observational_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Language:
En
Journal:
EClinicalMedicine
Year:
2020
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Italy