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Meta-Analysis
. 2021 Sep;51(9):e13645.
doi: 10.1111/eci.13645. Epub 2021 Jul 18.

Colchicine use might be associated with lower mortality in COVID-19 patients: A meta-analysis

Mohamed Nabil Elshafei  1 , Ahmed El-Bardissy  1 , Ahmed Khalil  1 , Mohammed Danjuma  2   3 , Mahmood Mubasher  4 , Ibrahim Y Abubeker  5 , Mouhand F H Mohamed  3
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Colchicine use might be associated with lower mortality in COVID-19 patients: A meta-analysis

Mohamed Nabil Elshafei et al. Eur J Clin Invest. 2021 Sep.

Abstract

Background: Colchicine was recently repurposed for the management of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This rapid review and meta-analysis aimed to assess colchicine's impact on mortality outcomes in COVID-19 patients.

Materials and methods: We systematically searched PubMed, EMBASE, Google Scholar since their inception till 25/03/2021 for observational or controlled studies that reported mortality as an outcome. The mortality odd ratios were generated with their corresponding 95% confidence intervals utilizing the random-effects model.

Results: Nine studies comprising 5522 patients met our inclusion criteria. Our meta-analysis revealed significantly lower mortality in the colchicine group (OR 0.35, 95% CI 0.25-0.48, I2 0%) compared with controls. A subgroup analysis limited to hospitalized patients (OR 0.35, 95% CI 0.25-0.50, I2 0%) revealed similarly lower mortality in the colchicine group.

Conclusions: This meta-analysis suggests a mortality benefit with colchicine when used in the treatment of COVID-19 patients. The majority of included studies were observational; thus, the findings of this review need to be further supported by the results of ongoing trials.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; colchicine; coronavirus disease 2019; mortality.

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Conflict of interest statement

None declared by all authors.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Forest plot summarizing the pooled mortality odds in COVID‐19 patients receiving colchicine compared to controls
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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