Objectives:
Convalescent plasma (CP) has been used successfully to treat many types of infectious diseases and it has shown initial effects in the treatment of the emerging 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19). However, its curative effect and feasibility have yet to be confirmed by formal evaluation and well-designed clinical trials. Therefore, this review article has been conducted.
Is convalescent plasma therapy an effective treatment for COVID-19?
Study design:
This review article included 40 studies on convalescent plasma treatment for infectious diseases.
Studies were mostly of low or very low quality with a moderate or high risk of bias. The sources of clinical and methodological heterogeneity were identified.
Results and conclusions:
The investigators found a meta-analysis of 15 controlled studies showed that there was a significantly lower mortality rate in the group treated with convalescent plasma [pooled OR = 0.32, 95% CI = 0.19 to 0.52, p 0.001, I2 = 54%] than in the control groups.
The exclusion of heterogeneity indicated that the results were stable.
The investigators concluded convalescent plasma therapy is a potentially effective treatment for COVID-19.
Original title:
Potential Effective Treatment for COVID-19: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Severe Infectious Disease With Convalescent Plasma Therapy by Sun M, Xu Y, […], Ma K.
Link:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7334933/
Additional information of El Mondo:
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