SynthesisClinical drug investigation2021
Efficacy of Interferon-β in Moderate-to-Severe Hospitalised Cases of COVID-19: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Clinical drug investigation, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 2 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
8 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 10 citations in OpenAlex.
- Efficacy of interferon alpha for the treatment of hospitalized patients with COVID-19: A meta-analysis.Frontiers in immunology · 2023Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Article
- Treating COVID-19: Targeting the Host Response, Not the Virus.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Article
- Impact of COVID-19 on Drug Discovery and Development: A Pharmacologist's Perspective.Advanced biomedical research · 2023Article
- The value of Interferon β in multiple sclerosis and novel opportunities for its anti-viral activity: a narrative literature review.Frontiers in immunology · 2023Review
- Systemic Review and Meta-Analysis to Evaluate Therapeutic Effectiveness of Interferon Beta-1b in Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients.Indian journal of community medicine : official publication of Indian Association of Preventive & Social MedicineReview
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND
objectiveInterferon-β, as with several other anti-viral agents, has been investigated as a treatment option for COVID-19 as a repurposed drug. The present study is a systematic review and meta-analysis of interferon-β to determine its efficacy among moderate-to-severe COVID-19 patients.
methodsA systematic literature search was done using relevant terms for 'COVID-19' and 'interferon-β'. Randomised controlled trials (RCT) evaluating the efficacy of interferon-β in COVID-19 were included. Data were extracted for outcome measures, namely mortality, time to clinical improvement and length of hospital stay. Random effects meta-analysis was performed using RevMan V.5.4.1 to calculate overall effect estimate as odds ratio/hazard ratio for categorical variables and mean difference for continuous variable.
resultEight RCTs were eligible for qualitative synthesis and seven for meta-analysis. The overall effect estimate (odds ratio [OR] 0.59; 95 % CI 0.91, 1.12) and (mean difference [MD] - 1.41; 95 % CI - 2.84, 0.02) indicated no statistically significant difference between effect of IFN-β and that of control on mortality and length of hospital stay, respectively. However, the overall effect estimate (hazard ratio [HR] 1.95; 95 % CI 1.36, 2.79) denoted a favourable effect of INF-β on reducing the time to clinical improvement in moderate-to-severe COVID-19 patients.
conclusionAddition of interferon-β to standard of care resulted in significant reduction in time to clinical improvement but no significant benefit in terms of reduction in mortality and length of hospital stay in moderate-to-severe cases of COVID-19.
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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.