Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34703811›Full record

ArticleClinical and experimental vaccine research2021

Severity of COVID-19 in bacillus Calmette-Guérin vaccinated population.

Iffat Khanum, Lokesh Kumar, Safia Awan, Bushra Jamil

Open access · diamondAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Clinical and experimental vaccine research, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
0.2field-weighted citation impact, top 49% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed, 5 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Review
  2. Article
  3. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Iffat KhanumDepartment of Medicine, Aga Khan University Hospital, Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4982-2799
Lokesh KumarDepartment of Medicine, Aga Khan University Hospital, Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5172-2017
Safia AwanDepartment of Medicine, Aga Khan University Hospital, Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8284-7800
Bushra JamilDepartment of Medicine, Aga Khan University Hospital, Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5838-317X
Aga Khan University Hospital · PK

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeConsidering the cross-protection reported for bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccination on viral respiratory infections, it has been proposed that it could reduce the severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The objective of the current study is to investigate the association between the severity of COVID-19 with prior BCG vaccination in adult patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. MATERIALS AND

methodsAdult patients (18 years or above) with positive SARS-CoV-2 polymerase chain reaction admitted in July 2020 were included in this cross-sectional study. Patients were classified into non-severe, severe, and critical diseases. History of prior BCG vaccination and the presence of a BCG vaccination scar were recorded.

resultsOut of 103 patients, 64 patients with prior history of BCG vaccinations were compared with 39 patients without BCG vaccination in childhood. The median age was 55 years and 64 years in BCG vaccinated & non-BCG vaccinated patients (p-value=0.002). There was male predominance in both groups and frequent comorbid illnesses were hypertension and diabetes mellitus. Severe COVID-19 was found in 91 patients (88.3%) followed by non-severe disease and critical diseases i.e., 7 (6.8%) and 5 (4.9%) patients, respectively. No association of prior BCG vaccination with disease severity of COVID-19 was found in this study and mortality was 8.7%. Out of nine patients who expired only 2 (22.2%) had a prior history of BCG vaccination (p-value=0.01). Secondary infections were present in 26 patients and the majority had pneumonia.

conclusionThe BCG vaccine has no impact on the severity of COVID-19 but could have a protective role with a low mortality rate in already infected patients.

Indexed as

BCG vaccineCOVID-19SARS-CoV-2

Identifiers

PMID34703811
PMCPMC8511583
OpenAlexW3205215311

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.