Trial reportThe European respiratory journal2022
Intravenous methylprednisolone pulses in hospitalised patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia: a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial.
Trial report in The European respiratory journal, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 35 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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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
35 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 61 citations in OpenAlex.
- Methylprednisolone versus dexamethasone in hospitalized patients with severe COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Systematic reviews · 2025Pooled it
- Efficacy and safety of glucocorticoids in the treatment of COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis of RCTs.Clinical and experimental medicine · 2024Pooled it
- Efficacy and safety of glucocorticoids use in patients with COVID-19: a systematic review and network meta‑analysis.BMC infectious diseases · 2023Pooled it
- A systematic review and meta-analysis of glucocorticoids treatment in severe COVID-19: methylprednisolone versus dexamethasone.BMC infectious diseases · 2023Pooled it
- A comparative study between methylprednisolone versus dexamethasone as an initial anti-inflammatory treatment of moderate COVID-19 pneumonia: an open-label randomized controlled trial.BMC pulmonary medicine · 2024Trial
- Nebulized enriched heparin improves respiratory parameters in patients with COVID-19: a phase I/II randomized and triple-blind clinical trial.Scientific reports · 2024Trial
- Prolonged higher dose methylprednisoloneThe European respiratory journal · 2023Trial
- Pulmonary outcomes of pediatric patients with postinfectious bronchiolitis obliterans treated with pulse methylprednisolone and intravenous immunoglobulin: a single-center cohort study.European journal of pediatrics · 2025Article
- An Autopsy for Persistent Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pneumonia during Follicular Lymphoma Treatment.Internal medicine (Tokyo, Japan) · 2025Article
- Observational
- Higher dose corticosteroids in hospitalised COVID-19 patients requiring ventilatory support (RECOVERY): a randomised, controlled, open-label, platform trial.EClinicalMedicine · 2025Article
- A meta-analysis of the efficacy and safety of immunomodulators in the treatment of severe COVID-19.The Journal of international medical research · 2025Article
- Impact of corticosteroid doses on prognosis of severe and critical COVID-19 patients with Omicron variant infection: a propensity score matching study.Inflammopharmacology · 2024Article
- Evaluating the Risk-Benefit Profile of Corticosteroid Therapy for COVID-19 Patients: A Scoping Review.Pharmacy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Baricitinib and Pulse Steroids Combination Treatment in Hyperinflammatory COVID-19: A Rheumatological Approach in the Intensive Care Unit.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Article
- The Efficacy of Oral/Intravenous Corticosteroid Use in COVID-19 Patients: A Systematic Review.Journal of experimental pharmacology · 2024Review
- An Update on SARS-CoV-2 Clinical Trial Results-What We Can Learn for the Next Pandemic.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
- Safety and Efficacy of Combination Therapy of Remdesivir, Baricitinib, and High-dose Steroids in Patients Hospitalized with Moderate to Severe COVID-19.Internal medicine (Tokyo, Japan) · 2023Article
- Disseminated cryptococcosis in a geriatric man following high-dose systemic steroid therapy for severe COVID-19 pneumonia.Journal of general and family medicine · 2023Article
- High-dose methylprednisolone pulse therapy during refractory COVID-19 acute respiratory distress syndrome: a retrospective observational study.BMC pulmonary medicine · 2023Observational
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
45 authors at 15 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
rationalePulse glucocorticoid therapy is used in hyperinflammation related to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We evaluated the efficacy and safety of pulse intravenous methylprednisolone in addition to standard treatment in COVID-19 pneumonia.
methodsIn this multicentre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, 304 hospitalised patients with COVID-19 pneumonia were randomised to receive 1 g of methylprednisolone intravenously for three consecutive days or placebo in addition to standard dexamethasone. The primary outcome was the duration of patient hospitalisation, calculated as the time interval between randomisation and hospital discharge without the need for supplementary oxygen. The key secondary outcomes were survival free from invasive ventilation with orotracheal intubation and overall survival.
resultsOverall, 112 (75.4%) out of 151 patients in the pulse methylprednisolone arm and 111 (75.2%) of 150 in the placebo arm were discharged from hospital without oxygen within 30 days from randomisation. Median time to discharge was similar in both groups (15 days, 95% CI 13.0-17.0 days and 16 days, 95% CI 13.8-18.2 days, respectively; hazard ratio (HR) 0.92, 95% CI 0.71-1.20; p=0.528). No significant differences between pulse methylprednisolone and placebo arms were observed in terms of admission to intensive care unit with orotracheal intubation or death (20.0%
conclusionsMethylprenisolone pulse therapy added to dexamethasone was not of benefit in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia.
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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.