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Meta-Analysis
. 2022 May-Jun:53:51-60.
doi: 10.1016/j.hrtlng.2022.01.019. Epub 2022 Feb 1.

Convalescent plasma may not be an effective treatment for severe and critically ill covid-19 patients: A Systematic Review & Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Penglei Yang  1 , Jing Wang  2 , Ruiqiang Zheng  2 , Rui Tan  2 , Xianghui Li  2 , Xiaoyun Liu  3 , Yang Li  3 , Zhenzhen Yuan  3 , Yue Wang  3 , Qihong Chen  1 , Jiangquan Yu  4
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Convalescent plasma may not be an effective treatment for severe and critically ill covid-19 patients: A Systematic Review & Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Penglei Yang et al. Heart Lung. 2022 May-Jun.

Abstract

Background: Convalescent plasma treatment for severe and critically ill Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients remains controversial.

Objective: To evaluate the clinical improvement and mortality risk of convalescent plasma treatment in patients with severe and critically ill COVID-19 patients.

Methods: A literature search was conducted in the electronic databases for the randomized controlled studies about convalescent plasma therapy in severe and critically ill COVID-19 patients. Two reviewers independently extracted relevant data. The primary outcomes were clinical improvement and mortality risk of severe and critically ill COVID-19 patients that were therapied by convalescent plasma.

Results: A total of 14 randomized controlled trials with 4543 patients were included in this meta-analysis. Compared to control, no significant difference was observed for either clinical improvement (6 studies, RR 1.07, 95% CI 0.97 to 1.17, p = 0.16, moderate certainty) or mortality risk (14 studies, RR 0.94, 95% CI 0.85 to 1.03, p= 0.18, low certainty) in patients of convalescent plasma therapy group.

Conclusion: Convalescent plasma did not increase the clinical improvement or reduce the mortality risk in the severe and critically ill COVID-19 patients.

Keywords: Convalescent Plasma; Corona Virus Disease 2019; Meta-Analysis; Systematic Review.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest None.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig. 1
Flow chart illustrating the study selection process.
Fig 2
Fig. 2
Risk of bias summary. Review of authors’ judgments on the risk of bias items in each included study.
Fig 3
Fig. 3
A. Forest plot of the clinical improvement between the convalescent plasma therapy group and control group. M-H, Mantel-Haenszel; CI, confidence interval; RR, risk ratio. B. The funnel graph of clinical improvement.
Fig 4
Fig. 4
A. Forest plot of mortality between the convalescent plasma therapy group and the control group. M-H, Mantel-Haenszel; CI, confidence interval; RR, risk ratio. B. The funnel graph of mortality risk.
Fig 5
Fig. 5
Results of sequential analysis of mortality. TSA, trial sequential analysis.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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