Safety and efficacy of colchicine in COVID-19 patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized control trials

{ 'indexed': {'date-parts': [[2022, 4, 5]], 'date-time': '2022-04-05T18:13:08Z', 'timestamp': 1649182388822}, 'reference-count': 50, 'publisher': 'Public Library of Science (PLoS)', 'issue': '4', 'license': [ { 'start': { 'date-parts': [[2022, 4, 5]], 'date-time': '2022-04-05T00:00:00Z', 'timestamp': 1649116800000}, 'content-version': 'vor', 'delay-in-days': 0, 'URL': 'http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/'}], 'content-domain': {'domain': ['www.plosone.org'], 'crossmark-restriction': False}, 'short-container-title': ['PLoS ONE'], 'abstract': '<jats:sec id="sec001">\n' '<jats:title>Background</jats:title>\n' '<jats:p>Colchicine has been used an effective anti-inflammatory drug to treat gout diseases. ' 'Owing to its pharmacodynamic of inhibiting interleukins, it has been repurposed to target the ' 'cytokine storm post-SARS-CoV-2 invasion. The goal of this meta-analysis was to evaluate the ' 'safety profile of colchicine in COVID-19 patients using the gold-standard randomised-control ' 'trials.</jats:p>\n' '</jats:sec>\n' '<jats:sec id="sec002">\n' '<jats:title>Methods</jats:title>\n' '<jats:p>Electronic databases (Pubmed, Google Scholar, and Cochrane) were systematically ' 'searched until June 2021 and RCTs were extracted. Outcomes of interest included all-cause ' 'mortality, COVID-19 severity, mechanical ventilation, C-reactive protein and D-dimer levels. ' 'Using a random-effects model, dichotomous outcomes were pooled using odds ratios (OR) through ' 'the generic inverse variance formula while weighted mean differences were calculated using ' 'the Wan’s method. P-values &lt; 0.05 were considered statistically significant for all ' 'outcomes.</jats:p>\n' '</jats:sec>\n' '<jats:sec id="sec003">\n' '<jats:title>Results</jats:title>\n' '<jats:p>A total population of 16,048 from five RCTs were included in the analysis. Of this, ' '7957 were randomized to colchicine, and 8091 received standard care, with an average age of ' '60.67 years. Colchicine was observed to significantly reduce COVID-19 severity (OR: 0.41, 95% ' 'CI [0.22, 0.76]; p = 0.005), and CRP levels (WMD: -19.99, 95% CI [-32.09, -7.89]; p = 0.001). ' 'However, there was no significant difference in D-dimer levels (WMD: 0.31, 95% CI [-0.61, ' '1.23]; p = 0.51), mechanical ventilation (OR: 0.42, 95% CI [0.17, 1.03]; p = 0.06; ' 'I<jats:sup>2</jats:sup> = 74%) and all-cause mortality (OR: 0.98, 95% CI [0.83, 1.16]; p = ' '0.84) among patients receiving colchicine or standard care.</jats:p>\n' '</jats:sec>\n' '<jats:sec id="sec004">\n' '<jats:title>Conclusion</jats:title>\n' '<jats:p>Colchicine treatment decreased CRP levels and COVID-19 severity, with dimer levels, ' 'all-cause mortality and mechanical ventilation remaining seemingly unaffected. Thus, clinical ' 'trials need to be carried out that allow effective evaluation of colchicine in COVID-19 ' 'patients.</jats:p>\n' '</jats:sec>', 'DOI': '10.1371/journal.pone.0266245', 'type': 'journal-article', 'created': {'date-parts': [[2022, 4, 5]], 'date-time': '2022-04-05T17:52:03Z', 'timestamp': 1649181123000}, 'page': 'e0266245', 'update-policy': 'http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.corrections_policy', 'source': 'Crossref', 'is-referenced-by-count': 0, 'title': [ 'Safety and efficacy of colchicine in COVID-19 patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis ' 'of randomized control trials'], 'prefix': '10.1371', 'volume': '17', 'author': [ {'given': 'Farah', 'family': 'Yasmin', 'sequence': 'first', 'affiliation': []}, { 'ORCID': 'http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7075-4674', 'authenticated-orcid': True, 'given': 'Hala', 'family': 'Najeeb', 'sequence': 'additional', 'affiliation': []}, { 'ORCID': 'http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4429-1391', 'authenticated-orcid': True, 'given': 'Abdul', 'family': 'Moeed', 'sequence': 'additional', 'affiliation': []}, {'given': 'Wardah', 'family': 'Hassan', 'sequence': 'additional', 'affiliation': []}, {'given': 'Mahima', 'family': 'Khatri', 'sequence': 'additional', 'affiliation': []}, {'given': 'Muhammad Sohaib', 'family': 'Asghar', 'sequence': 'additional', 'affiliation': []}, { 'ORCID': 'http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4215-0600', 'authenticated-orcid': True, 'given': 'Ahmed Kunwer', 'family': 'Naveed', 'sequence': 'additional', 'affiliation': []}, {'given': 'Waqas', 'family': 'Ullah', 'sequence': 'additional', 'affiliation': []}, { 'ORCID': 'http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7105-4266', 'authenticated-orcid': True, 'given': 'Salim', 'family': 'Surani', 'sequence': 'additional', 'affiliation': []}], 'member': '340', 'published-online': {'date-parts': [[2022, 4, 5]]}, 'reference': [ {'key': 'pone.0266245.ref001', 'unstructured': '“Timeline of WHO’s response to COVID-19”.'}, { 'key': 'pone.0266245.ref002', 'unstructured': '“WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard | WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) ' 'Dashboard With Vaccination Data.” https://covid19.who.int/ (accessed ' 'Jun. 08, 2021).'}, { 'key': 'pone.0266245.ref003', 'unstructured': '“Novel 2019 coronavirus genome—SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus—Virological”.'}, { 'issue': '8', 'key': 'pone.0266245.ref004', 'doi-asserted-by': 'crossref', 'first-page': '1212', 'DOI': '10.1038/s41591-020-0952-y', 'article-title': 'Disease and healthcare burden of COVID-19 in the United States', 'volume': '26', 'author': 'I. 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