ArticleAnnals of intensive care2021
Efficacy and safety of IL-6 inhibitors in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia: a systematic review and meta-analysis of multicentre, randomized trials.
Article in Annals of intensive care, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
14 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- Clinical efficacy and safety of interleukin-6 receptor antagonists (tocilizumab and sarilumab) in patients with COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Emerging microbes & infections · 2022Pooled it
- Polymorphism in interferon alpha/beta receptor contributes to glucocorticoid response and outcome of ARDS and COVID-19.Critical care (London, England) · 2023Trial
- Nomogram-based prediction model for tocilizumab-induced leukopenia in adults using FAERS and PMDA data.Brazilian journal of medical and biological research = Revista brasileira de pesquisas medicas e biologicas · 2026Observational
- The Potential of Glucosinolates and Their Hydrolysis Products as Inhibitors of Cytokine Storms.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Effects of sEH inhibition on the eicosanoid and cytokine storms in SARS-CoV-2-infected mice.FASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology · 2024Article
- Nebulized Furosemide for Pulmonary Inflammation in Intubated Patients With COVID-19: A Phase 2 Randomized Controlled Double-Blind Study.Critical care explorations · 2024Article
- Suppressed transcript diversity and immune response in COVID-19 ICU patients: a longitudinal study.Life science alliance · 2024Article
- Therapeutic Impact of Tocilizumab in the Setting of Severe COVID-19; an Updated and Comprehensive Review on Current Evidence.Archives of academic emergency medicine · 2024Article
- Differential Roles of Interleukin-6 in Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus-2 Infection and Cardiometabolic Diseases.Cardiology discovery · 2023Article
- Management of Severe and Critical COVID-19 Infection with Immunotherapies.Infectious disease clinics of North America · 2022Review
- A Comprehensive Review on the Efficacy of Several Pharmacologic Agents for the Treatment of COVID-19.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Anticoagulation as secondary prevention of massive lung thromboses in hospitalized patients with COVID-19.European journal of internal medicine · 2022Article
- Clinical update on COVID-19 for the emergency and critical care clinician: Medical management.The American journal of emergency medicine · 2022Review
- The Association between TNF-α, IL-6, and Vitamin D Levels and COVID-19 Severity and Mortality: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 3 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeCOVID-19 is characterized by dysregulated immune response, respiratory failure and a relevant mortality rate among hospitalized patients. Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is involved in COVID-19-associated cytokine storm, and several trials investigated whether its inhibition could improve patients' outcome. We performed a meta-analysis of randomized trials (RCT) to test this hypothesis. MATERIALS AND
methodsTwo independent investigators searched PubMed, Scopus, ClnicalTrials.gov and medRxiv up to September 1st, 2021. Inclusion criteria were: administration of tocilizumab or sarilumab; COVID-19 adult patients with pneumonia; and being a RCT. Primary outcome was mortality at the longest follow-up. Secondary outcomes included intubation rate and incidence of adverse events. Two independent investigators extracted data from eligible trials.
resultsOf the 763 studies assessed, 15 RCTs were included (9,320 patients), all were multicentre, and the majority open-label vs standard treatment. IL-6 inhibitors were associated with reduced all-cause mortality at the longest follow-up (1315/5,380 [24.4%] in the IL-6 inhibitors group versus 1080/3,814 [28.3%] in the control group, RR = 0.90; 95% CI 0.84 to 0.96; p for effect = 0.003, I
conclusionIL-6 inhibitors reduced longest follow-up mortality and intubation in COVID-19 patients. Findings need to be confirmed in high-quality RCTs.
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.