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Meta-Analysis
. 2021 Jun;48(6):823-830.
doi: 10.1111/1440-1681.13488. Epub 2021 Mar 14.

Colchicine treatment can improve outcomes of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): A systematic review and meta-analysis

Timotius Ivan Hariyanto  1 , Devina Adella Halim  1 , Claudia Jodhinata  1 , Theo Audi Yanto  2 , Andree Kurniawan  2
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Colchicine treatment can improve outcomes of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): A systematic review and meta-analysis

Timotius Ivan Hariyanto et al. Clin Exp Pharmacol Physiol. 2021 Jun.

Abstract

Currently, there is no widely acceptable and proven effective treatment for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Colchicine has been shown to offer a benefit in reducing the inflammation in several inflammatory diseases. This study aims to analyze the efficacy of colchicine administration and outcomes of COVID-19. We systematically searched the PubMed and Europe PMC database using specific keywords related to our aims until January 29, 2021. All articles published on COVID-19 and colchicine treatment were retrieved. The quality of the study was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) tool for observational studies and Revised Cochrane risk-of-bias tool for randomized trials (RoB 2) for clinical trial studies. Statistical analysis was done using Review Manager 5.4 software. A total of eight studies with 5778 COVID-19 patients were included in this meta-analysis. This meta-analysis showed that the administration of colchicine was associated with improvement of outcomes of COVID-19 [OR 0.43 (95% CI 0.34-0.55), p < 0.00001, I2 = 0%, fixed-effect modelling] and its subgroup which comprised of reduction from severe COVID-19 [OR 0.44 (95% CI 0.31-0.63), p < 0.00001, I2 = 0%, fixed-effect modelling] and reduction of mortality rate from COVID-19 [OR 0.43 (95% CI 0.32-0.58), p < 0.00001, I2 = 0%, fixed-effect modelling]. Our study suggests the routine use of colchicine for treatment modalities of COVID-19 patients. More randomized clinical trial studies are still needed to confirm the results from this study.

Keywords: colchicine; coronavirus disease 2019; immune therapy; treatment.

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Conflict of interest statement

None.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Prisma diagram flowchart
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Forrest plot that demonstrates the association of colchicine with composite poor outcome of COVID‐19, severe COVID‐19, and mortality
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Funnel plot analysis for the association of colchicine with composite poor outcome of COVID‐19
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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