0
0.5
1
1.5
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65%
Improvement
Relative Risk
c19 early.org/o
Elshafei et al. Colchicine for COVID-19 META
Favors colchicine
Favors control
Colchicine use might be associated with lower mortality in COVID‐19 patients: A meta‐analysis
Elshafei et al. ,
Colchicine use might be associated with lower mortality in COVID‐19 patients: A meta‐analysis ,
European Journal of Clinical Investigation, doi:10.1111/eci.13645
Meta analysis of 9 colchicine studies showing significantly lower mortality with treatment.
Currently there are
46 colchicine studies and meta analysis shows:
risk of death, 65.0% lower , OR 0.35, p < 0.001 , RR approximated with OR.
Effect extraction follows pre-specified rules prioritizing more serious outcomes. Submit updates
Elshafei et al., 18 Jul 2021, peer-reviewed, 7 authors.
Contact:
dr.m.oraiby@hotmail.com.
Abstract: DOI: 10.1111/eci.13645
|
Revised: 2 June 2021
|
Accepted: 4 June 2021
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Colchicine use might be associated with lower mortality in
COVID-19 patients: A meta-analysis
Mohamed Nabil Elshafei1 | Ahmed El-Bardissy1
Mohammed Danjuma2,3 | Mahmood Mubasher4
Mouhand F. H. Mohamed3
1
Clinical Pharmacy Department, Hamad
Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar
2
College of Medicine, Qatar University,
Doha, Qatar
3
Department of Medicine, Hamad Medical
Corporation, Doha, Qatar
4
Department of Internal Medicine,
Rochester Regional Health, Unity Hospital
of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA
5
Alpert Medical School, Brown University,
Providence, RI, USA
Correspondence
Mouhand F. H. Mohamed, Department of
Medicine, Hamad Medical Corporation, P.O
Box: 3050, Doha, Qatar.
Email: dr.m.oraiby@hotmail.com
| Ahmed Khalil1 |
| Ibrahim Y. Abubeker5 |
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
colchicine, coronavirus disease 2019, COVID-19, mortality, SARS-CoV-2
We read with great interest the recently published meta-
analysis by Aimo et al1 in the European Journal of Clinical
Investigation. The analysis encompassing over 5000 patients'
data revealed a significant reduction in adverse cardiovascular events in patients with chronic coronary syndrome receiving colchicine vs. control. These results are promising and
suggest a potential role for colchicine in treating thrombogenic conditions. Colchicine is an ancient anti-inflammatory
agent with an established safety profile. It inhibits various
inflammatory pathways, including neutrophils adhesion, inflammasome activation, microtubule formation, neutrophil
extracellular traps (NETs) essential in the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pathogenesis.23 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is thought to be
associated with an exaggerated inflammatory response and
thrombogenicity.4 Thus, studies tested repurposing this medication in the treatment of COVID-19 and yielded promising
results.5,6
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original
work is properly cited.
© 2021 The Authors. European Journal of Clinical Investigation published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Stichting..
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