A new study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, has found that dexamethasone, a steroid medication, improved survival rates in COVID-19 patients.
Researchers looked at nearly 2,100 UK patients hospitalized with COVID-19 who were randomized to usual care along with dexamethasone, while the other 4,300 patients received usual care alone.
Dexamethasone 6 mg was given orally or intravenously once daily for up to 10 days.
The mortality rate among patients who received the medication was significantly reduced within 28 days.
The death rate was 29% among patients on ventilation who received dexamethasone, and the rate was 41% among ventilated COVID-19 patients who did not receive the steroid drug.
Another benefit was also seen among patients who were on oxygen and received dexamethasone.
However, the mortality rate among patients who did not receive respiratory support was not significant between the two groups.
The study researcher said, “U.S. and U.K. guidelines have already been updated to recommend the use of glucocorticoids in patients hospitalized with COVID-19.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. H. Clifford Lane of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) said the findings “[provide] clarity to an area of therapeutic controversy and probably will result in many lives saved.”
Globally, the virus has sickened more than 14 million and killed over 602,000 people, with the majority of the cases reported in the United States. COVID-19 has affected more than 3.8 Americans and killed over 143,000.
Meanwhile, some intensive care units (ICUs) have run out of beds in Florida. About 45 hospitals in the state had no beds in the ICUs as of Sunday afternoon due to a recent surge in new cases. Florida has now emerged as the new epicenter of the U.S. coronavirus pandemic, with more than 12,520 new cases reported on Sunday. The state’s health department said more than 21,000 people are hospitalized in Florida.
