Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40113850›Full record

ArticleScientific reports2025

Effect of antecedent B-cell depletion therapy for patients hospitalized with COVID-19 within a single health system: a propensity score analysis.

William M Garneau, Kunbo Wang, Tao Liang, Yanxun Xu, Douglas E Gladstone, Robin K Avery, Franco R D'Alessio, Matthew L Robinson, Sarina K Sahetya, Brian T Garibaldi and 2 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Scientific reports, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
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

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

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

12 authors.

William M GarneauDivision of Hospital Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 600 N Wolfe St, Carnegie 2nd Floor, Suite 249, Room 256, Baltimore, MD, 21287, USA. william.garneau@jhmi.edu.
Kunbo WangDepartment of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Tao LiangDivision of Infectious Diseases, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Yanxun XuDepartment of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Douglas E GladstoneDivision of Hematology/Medical Oncology, Northwell Health, New Hyde Park, NY, USA.
Robin K AveryDivision of Infectious Diseases, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Franco R D'AlessioDivision of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Matthew L RobinsonDivision of Infectious Diseases, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Sarina K SahetyaDivision of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Brian T GaribaldiDivision of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Kelly A GeboDivision of Infectious Diseases, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
M Veronica DiovertiDivision of Infectious Diseases, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.

Funding

TrainingU54EB007958 · NIBIB · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · PI William Owen Osburn · 2007 to 2026
$34.6M
Lung Injury Repair by Regulatory T cell LGP2R01HL131812 · NHLBI · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · PI D'ALESSIO, FRANCO RAFAEL · 2017 to 2020
$1.6M
Driving Pressure as a Target for Lung-Protective VentilationK23HL155507 · NHLBI · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · PI SAHETYA, SARINA · 2021 to 2025
$885k
FDA HHS U18 FD005320NHLBI NIH HHS K23 HL155507NHLBI NIH HHS K23HL155507NHLBI NIH HHS R01 HL131812NHLBI NIH HHS R01HL131812NIBIB NIH HHS U54 EB007958NIBIB NIH HHS U54EB007958U.S. Food and Drug Administration 2U18FD005320
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

B-cell depletion therapy is employed in a variety of clinical contexts from auto-immune diseases to malignancy. Prior research on patients with prior B-cell depletion treatment has suggested a mortality risk in patients hospitalized with COVID-19 however previous case-control studies have differed in their methods of patient comparison. Patients previously treated with B-cell-depletion hospitalized with COVID-19 were compared to matched controls in the Johns Hopkins Health System between March 1, 2020 and November 30, 2021. The primary outcome was 30-day all-cause mortality. Secondary outcomes included time to severe illness or death and time to clinical improvement. To eliminate bias due to imbalanced covariates, each patient who had previously received B-cell depletion therapy was matched with patients who had not received therapy based on age, sex, race, WHO severity score, admission date, COVID-19 specific treatment, and vaccination status. Propensity scores were calculated from a multivariable logistic regression model and performed on the matched sets, using B-cell depletion as the outcome, where the propensity score was the probability of receiving B-cell depletion therapy. The propensity score included matched covariates as well as smoking status, medical comorbidities, and vaccination status. Cox proportional-hazards regression models were applied on the matched sets to perform time to death, time to severe illness or death, and time to clinical improvement analyses. 50 patients were identified who had received B-cell depletion therapy and were compared to 186 matched controls. Patients treated with B-cell depletion experienced 30-day mortality of 6.0% compared to 3.8% in controls, adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) 1.45 (95% CI 0.30 to 6.95). B-cell-depleted patients experienced a longer time to clinical improvement, aHR 0.65 (95% CI 0.45-0.94). In this cohort, patients treated with B-cell depletion experienced a higher mortality rate compared to matched controls however this was not statistically significant. This group also experienced a prolonged time to clinical improvement based on WHO severity score.

Indexed as

B-LymphocytesCOVID-19Lymphocyte DepletionAdultAgedAged, 80 and overCase-Control StudiesFemaleHospitalizationHumansMaleMiddle AgedPropensity ScoreRetrospective StudiesSARS-CoV-2Treatment OutcomeImmunocompromisedLymphocyte depletionSARS-CoV-2Viral illness

Identifiers

PMID40113850
PMCPMC11926165

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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.