Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Apr 10;21(1):337.
doi: 10.1186/s12879-021-06045-3.

Methylprednisolone or dexamethasone, which one is superior corticosteroid in the treatment of hospitalized COVID-19 patients: a triple-blinded randomized controlled trial

Keivan Ranjbar  1   2 , Mohsen Moghadami  3 , Alireza Mirahmadizadeh  4   5 , Mohammad Javad Fallahi  1   6 , Vahid Khaloo  7 , Reza Shahriarirad  1   2 , Amirhossein Erfani  1   2 , Zohre Khodamoradi  6   8 , Mohammad Hasan Gholampoor Saadi  2
Affiliations

Methylprednisolone or dexamethasone, which one is superior corticosteroid in the treatment of hospitalized COVID-19 patients: a triple-blinded randomized controlled trial

Keivan Ranjbar et al. BMC Infect Dis. .

Erratum in

Abstract

Background: Although almost a year has passed since the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak and promising reports of vaccines have been presented, we still have a long way until these measures are available for all. Furthermore, the most appropriate corticosteroid and dose in the treatment of COVID-19 have remained uncertain. We conducted a study to assess the effectiveness of methylprednisolone treatment versus dexamethasone for hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

Methods: In this prospective triple-blinded randomized controlled trial, we enrolled 86 hospitalized COVID-19 patients from August to November 2020, in Shiraz, Iran. The patients were randomly allocated into two groups to receive either methylprednisolone (2 mg/kg/day; intervention group) or dexamethasone (6 mg/day; control group). Data were assessed based on a 9-point WHO ordinal scale extending from uninfected (point 0) to death (point 8).

Results: There were no significant differences between the groups on admission. However, the intervention group demonstrated significantly better clinical status compared to the control group at day 5 (4.02 vs. 5.21, p = 0.002) and day 10 (2.90 vs. 4.71, p = 0.001) of admission. There was also a significant difference in the overall mean score between the intervention group and the control group, (3.909 vs. 4.873 respectively, p = 0.004). The mean length of hospital stay was 7.43 ± 3.64 and 10.52 ± 5.47 days in the intervention and control groups, respectively (p = 0.015). The need for a ventilator was significantly lower in the intervention group than in the control group (18.2% vs 38.1% p = 0.040).

Conclusion: In hospitalized hypoxic COVID-19 patients, methylprednisolone demonstrated better results compared to dexamethasone.

Trial registration: The trial was registered with IRCT.IR (08/04/2020-No. IRCT20200204046369N1 ).

Keywords: COVID-19; Corticosteroid; Dexamethasone; Methylprednisolone; Randomized controlled trial.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

All authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
CONSORT Flow diagram of a randomized clinical trial of Methylprednisolone vs. Dexamethasone in patients with COVID-19
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Diagram of clinical status in the intervention (methyl-prednisolone) and control groups
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

References

    1. Eurosurveillance Editorial Team Note from the editors: World Health Organization declares novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) sixth public health emergency of international concern. Euro Surveill. 2020;25(5):200131e. doi: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2020.25.5.200131e. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. World Health Organization. WHO announces COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic, 2020. Available from: https://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/health-emergencies/coronavirus.... Accessed 7 December 2020.
    1. World Health Organization. Statement on the second meeting of the International Health Regulations (2005) Emergency Committee regarding the outbreak of novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV). 2020. Available from: https://www.who.int/news/item/30-01-2020-statement-on-the-second-meeting.... Accessed 11 December 2020.
    1. World Health Organization. Clinical management of severe acute respiratory infection when Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus ( MERS-CoV) infection is suspected: interim guidance. 2019. Available from: https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/178529. Accessed 3 January 2021.
    1. Worldometer. COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic. 2020. Available from: https://www.worldometers.info/. Accessed 15 January 2021.

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources