SynthesisBMJ open2024
Colchicine for the treatment of patients with COVID-19: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.
Synthesis in BMJ open, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 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
7 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 7 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Impact of Study Size on COVID-19 Treatment Outcomes: A Meta-Epidemiological Study Comparing Large and Small Randomized Controlled Trials: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses.Reviews in medical virology · 2026Pooled it
- Efficacy of tenofovir on clinical outcomes of COVID-19 patients: a systematic review.BMC infectious diseases · 2025Pooled it
- Effectiveness of Colchicine for the Treatment of Long COVID: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA internal medicine · 2025Trial
- Targeting the NLRP3 Inflammasome with Colchicine in COVID-19: Therapeutic Evidence and Future Implications for Influenza.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Nasal inhalation of antiviral microparticulate powders to target early infection of upper airways.Drug delivery and translational research · 2026Article
- Colchicine-The Divine Medicine against COVID-19.Journal of personalized medicine · 2024Review
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 6 institutions in 5 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesWe conducted an updated systematic review and meta-analysis to investigate the effect of colchicine treatment on clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19.
designSystematic review and meta-analysis. DATA SOURCES: We searched PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, medRxiv and ClinicalTrials.gov from inception to January 2023. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA: All randomised controlled trials (RCTs) that investigated the efficacy of colchicine treatment in patients with COVID-19 as compared with placebo or standard of care were included. There were no language restrictions. Studies that used colchicine prophylactically were excluded. DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS: We extracted all information relating to the study characteristics, such as author names, location, study population, details of intervention and comparator groups, and our outcomes of interest. We conducted our meta-analysis by using RevMan V.5.4 with risk ratio (RR) and mean difference as the effect measures.
resultsWe included 23 RCTs (28 249 participants) in this systematic review. Colchicine did not decrease the risk of mortality (RR 0.99; 95% CI 0.93 to 1.05; I
conclusionsThe results of this meta-analysis do not support the use of colchicine as a treatment for reducing the risk of mortality or improving other relevant clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19. However, RCTs investigating early treatment with colchicine (within 5 days of symptom onset or in patients with early-stage disease) are needed to fully elucidate the potential benefits of colchicine in this patient population. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42022369850.
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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.