Observational studyPloS one2021
Reduced mortality in COVID-19 patients treated with colchicine: Results from a retrospective, observational study.
Observational study in PloS one, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 48 citations in OpenAlex.
- Oxygen Saturation in Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients and Its Relation to Colchicine Treatment: A Retrospective Cohort Study with an Updated Systematic Review.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2023Pooled it
- Effect of colchicine on mortality in patients with COVID-19 - A systematic review and meta-analysis.Diabetes & metabolic syndrome · 2022Pooled it
- Colchicine use might be associated with lower mortality in COVID-19 patients: A meta-analysis.European journal of clinical investigation · 2021Pooled it
- The effects of colchicine on hospitalized COVID-19 patients: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial.Journal of investigative medicine : the official publication of the American Federation for Clinical Research · 2023Trial
- FRAGILE-COLCOVID19: A Clinical Trial Based on Early Administration of an Oral Combination of Colchicine and Prednisone in Elderly Patients with COVID-19 in Geriatric Facilities.Clinical drug investigation · 2022Trial
- Colchicine Is Safe Though Ineffective in the Treatment of Severe COVID-19: a Randomized Clinical Trial (COLCHIVID).Journal of general internal medicine · 2022Trial
- Efficacy of colchicine in patients with moderate COVID-19: A double-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled trial.PloS one · 2022Trial
- Assessing the Impact of Colchicine on Pulmonary Fibrosis Using Imaging in Patients With Moderate-to-Severe COVID-19 Pneumonia.Canadian respiratory journal · 2026Article
- Colchicine in Contemporary Pharmacotherapy: Mechanistic Insights and Clinical Horizons.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Review
- Real-world evidence with a retrospective cohort of 15,968 COVID-19 hospitalized patients suggests 21 new effective treatments.Virology journal · 2023Article
- Evaluating Risk: Benefit Ratio of Fat-Soluble Vitamin Supplementation to SARS-CoV-2-Infected Autoimmune and Cancer Patients: Do Vitamin-Drug Interactions Exist?Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- The naturally-derived alkaloids as a potential treatment for COVID-19: A scoping review.Phytotherapy research : PTR · 2022Article
- Efficacy of Colchicine in the Treatment of COVID-19 Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of clinical medicine · 2022Review
- Colchicine for COVID-19: targeting NLRP3 inflammasome to blunt hyperinflammation.Inflammation research : official journal of the European Histamine Research Society ... [et al.] · 2022Review
- Article
- Repurposing of Chemotherapeutics to Combat COVID-19.Current topics in medicinal chemistry · 2022Article
- Colchicine for the Treatment of Cardiac Injury in Hospitalized Patients With Coronavirus Disease-19.Frontiers in cardiovascular medicine · 2022Article
- The incidence, clinical characteristics, and outcome of COVID-19 in a prospectively followed cohort of patients with Behçet's syndrome.Rheumatology international · 2022Article
- Potential Role of Colchicine in Combating COVID-19 Cytokine Storm and Its Ability to Inhibit Protease Enzyme of SARS-CoV-2 as Conferred by Molecular Docking Analysis.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2021Review
- Role of Neutrophil Extracellular Traps in COVID-19 Progression: An Insight for Effective Treatment.Biomedicines · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
24 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesEffective treatments for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are urgently needed. We hypothesized that colchicine, by counteracting proinflammatory pathways implicated in the uncontrolled inflammatory response of COVID-19 patients, reduces pulmonary complications, and improves survival.
methodsThis retrospective study included 71 consecutive COVID-19 patients (hospitalized with pneumonia on CT scan or outpatients) who received colchicine and compared with 70 control patients who did not receive colchicine in two serial time periods at the same institution. We used inverse probability of treatment propensity-score weighting to examine differences in mortality, clinical improvement (using a 7-point ordinary scale), and inflammatory markers between the two groups.
resultsAmongst the 141 COVID-19 patients (118 [83.7%] hospitalized), 70 (50%) received colchicine. The 21-day crude cumulative mortality was 7.5% in the colchicine group and 28.5% in the control group (P = 0.006; adjusted hazard ratio: 0.24 [95%CI: 0.09 to 0.67]); 21-day clinical improvement occurred in 40.0% of the patients on colchicine and in 26.6% of control patients (adjusted relative improvement rate: 1.80 [95%CI: 1.00 to 3.22]). The strong association between the use of colchicine and reduced mortality was further supported by the diverging linear trends of percent daily change in lymphocyte count (P = 0.018), neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (P = 0.003), and in C-reactive protein levels (P = 0.009). Colchicine was stopped because of transient side effects (diarrhea or skin rashes) in 7% of patients.
conclusionIn this retrospective cohort study colchicine was associated with reduced mortality and accelerated recovery in COVID-19 patients. This support the rationale for current larger randomized controlled trials testing the safety/efficacy profile of colchicine in COVID-19 patients.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.