Tocilizumab therapy reduced intensive care unit admissions and/or mortality in COVID-19 patients.

Link to article at PubMed

Tocilizumab therapy reduced intensive care unit admissions and/or mortality in COVID-19 patients.

Med Mal Infect. 2020 May 06;:

Authors: Klopfenstein T, Zayet S, Lohse A, Balblanc JC, Badie J, Royer PY, Toko L, Mezher C, Kadiane-Oussou NJ, Bossert M, Bozgan AM, Charpentier A, Roux MF, Contreras R, Mazurier I, Dussert P, Gendrin V, Conrozier T

Abstract
INTRODUCTION: No therapy has yet proven effective in COVID-19. Tocilizumab (TCZ) in patients with severe COVID-19 could be an effective treatment.
METHOD: We conducted a retrospective case-control study in the Nord Franche-Comté Hospital, France. We compared the outcome of patients treated with TCZ and patients without TCZ considering a combined primary endpoint: death and/or ICU admissions.
RESULTS: Patients with TCZ (n=20) had a higher Charlson comorbidity index (5.3 [±2.4] vs 3.4 [±2.6], p=0.014), presented with more severe forms (higher level of oxygen therapy at 13 L/min vs 6 L/min, p<0.001), and had poorer biological findings (severe lymphopenia: 676/mm3 vs 914/mm3, p=0.037 and higher CRP level: 158 mg/l vs 105 mg/l, p=0.017) than patients without TCZ (n=25). However, death and/or ICU admissions were higher in patients without TCZ than in the TCZ group (72% vs 25%, p=0.002).
CONCLUSION: Despite the small sample size and retrospective nature of the work, this result strongly suggests that TCZ may reduce the number of ICU admissions and/or mortality in patients with severe SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia.

PMID: 32387320 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

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