Abstract
Purpose: Real-world experience with tocilizumab in combination with dexamethasone in patients with severe coronavirus disease (COVID-19) needs to be investigated.
Materials and methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted to evaluate the effect of severity-adjusted dosing of dexamethasone in combination with tocilizumab for severe COVID-19 from August 2020 to August 2021. The primary endpoint was 30-day clinical recovery, which was defined as no oxygen requirement or referral after recovery.
Results: A total of 66 patients were evaluated, including 33 patients in the dexamethasone (Dexa) group and 33 patients in the dexamethasone plus tocilizumab (DexaToci) group. The DexaToci group showed a statistically significant benefit in 30-day clinical recovery, compared to the Dexa group ( p =0.024). In multivariable analyses, peak FiO 2 within 3 days and tocilizumab combination were consistently significant for 30-day recovery (all p <0.05). The DexaToci group showed a significantly steeper decrease in FiO 2 (-4.2±2.6) than the Dexa group (-2.7±2.6; p =0.021) by hospital day 15. The duration of oxygen requirement was significantly shorter in the DexaToci group than the Dexa group (median, 10.0 days vs. 17.0 days; p =0.006). Infectious complications and cellular and humoral immune responses against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in the convalescence stage were not different between the two groups.
Conclusion: A combination of severity-adjusted dexamethasone and tocilizumab for the treatment of severe COVID-19 improved clinical recovery without increasing infectious complications or hindering the immune response against SARS-CoV-2.
Keywords: COVID-19; Dexamethasone; immune response; tocilizumab.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, Dexamethasone, immune response, Tocilizumab, 【초록키워드】 Treatment, SARS-CoV-2, coronavirus, severe COVID-19, Tocilizumab, hospital, immune, clinical recovery, Patient, Complication, humoral immune response, cellular, Combination, primary endpoint, retrospective cohort study, acute respiratory syndrome, two groups, severe coronavirus disease, material, multivariable analyses, Oxygen requirement, benefit, decrease, defined, significantly, investigated, evaluated, conducted, median, statistically significant, not different, evaluate the effect, infectious complication, significantly shorter, 【제목키워드】 Dexamethasone, Dosing,