The COVID-19 pandemic has caused huge socio-economic losses and continues to threat humans worldwide. With more than 4.5 million deaths and more than 221 million confirmed COVID-19 cases, the impact on physical, mental, social and economic resources is immeasurable. During any novel disease outbreak, one of the primary requirements for effective mitigation is the knowledge of clinical manifestations of the disease. However, in absence of any unique identifying characteristics, diagnosis/prognosis becomes difficult. It intensifies misperception and leads to delay in containment of disease spread. Numerous clinical research studies, systematic reviews and meta-analyses have generated considerable data on the same. However, identification of some of the distinct clinical signs and symptoms, disease progression biomarkers and the risk factors leading to adverse COVID-19 outcomes warrant in-depth understanding. In view of this, we assessed 20 systematic reviews and meta-analyses with an intent to understand some of the potential independent predictors/biomarkers/risk factors of COVID-19 severity and mortality.
PurposeThe rapid spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has prompted researchers from all over the world to share their experience. The results were numerous reports with variable quality. The latter has provided an impetus to examine all published meta-analyses and systematic reviews on COVID-19 to date to examine available evidence. Methods: Using predefined selection criteria, a literature search identified 43 eligible meta-analyses and/or systematic reviews. Results: Most (N=17) studies addressed clinical manifestations and associated comorbidity, 6 studies addressed clinical manifestations in pregnant women and younger individuals, 8 studies addressed diagnostic data, 9 studies addressed various interventions, and 9 studies addressed prevention and control. The number of studies included in the various systemic reviews and meta-analyses ranged from 2 to 89. While there were some similarities and consistency for some findings, e.g. the relation between comorbidities and disease severity, we also noted occasionally conflicting data. Conclusion: As more data are collected from patients infected with COVID-19 all over the world, more studies will undoubtedly be published and attention to scientific accuracy in the performance of trials must be exercised to inform clinical decision-making and treatment guidelines.
BACKGROUND: No proven effective treatment for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) currently exist. Different drugs have different effects on patients with Covid-19, and the potential benefits or harms of the proposed drugs for the treatment of this disease need to be discussed more fully. The aim of this study was to systematically review the effectiveness of the proposed drugs in the treatment of patients with Covid-19. The present study is a systematic review that used SID, PubMed, Web Science, EMBASE, Scopus, and Science direct, Google Scholar, JAMA, WHO and CDC databases to access related articles. In order to search for articles, only English articles with the keywords Covid19, treatment, Remdesivir, Hydroxychloroquine, Ritonavir, Tocilizumab and all possible combinations of these words during 2019 and 2020 were examined. Out of 250 papers obtained, 20 papers had initial conditions and finally 9 clinical trial papers related to Covid-19 treatments were reviewed. Initial studies on chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine (with and without macrolides) were found to be effective in the treatment of Covid-19 patients, but further studies have shown that these drugs do not have a positive effect on Covid-19. Also, the use of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine in patients led to an increase in their mortality. There were different results for lopinavir and ritonavir, some of which showed improvement in symptoms and in others exacerbation of symptoms and complications. Remdesivir causes side effects such as nausea, constipation, hypokalemia, hypotension and elevated liver enzymes. Chloroquine and Hydroxychloroquine have no effect on the recovery of patients with Covid-19. The positive or negative effect of lopinavir / ritonavir requires clinical trials and research. Remdesivir improves patients with Covid-19. It is recommended that caregivers and medical and nursing staff closely monitor patients receiving remdesivir for drug side effects.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused huge socio-economic losses and continues to threat humans worldwide. With more than 4.5 million deaths and more than 221 million confirmed COVID-19 cases, the impact on physical, mental, social and economic resources is immeasurable. During any novel disease outbreak, one of the primary requirements for effective mitigation is the knowledge of clinical manifestations of the disease. However, in absence of any unique identifying characteristics, diagnosis/prognosis becomes difficult. It intensifies misperception and leads to delay in containment of disease spread. Numerous clinical research studies, systematic reviews and meta-analyses have generated considerable data on the same. However, identification of some of the distinct clinical signs and symptoms, disease progression biomarkers and the risk factors leading to adverse COVID-19 outcomes warrant in-depth understanding. In view of this, we assessed 20 systematic reviews and meta-analyses with an intent to understand some of the potential independent predictors/biomarkers/risk factors of COVID-19 severity and mortality.
