A meta-examination of seven international clinical tests found administering corticosteroids as a medication for coronavirus can cut mortality rates among severely ill patients by up to 20 percent.
The results from the trials have led the World Health Organization to revise its guidance on the treatment of the disease - which has many pharmaceutical groups working to find a safe and effective treatment.
Led by the WHO, the randomized trials on dexamethasone, methylprednisolone and two other corticosteroids included more than 1,703 subjects from 12 countries - 678 of whom were injected with corticosteroids and 1,025 with a placebo.
In a June 16 news statement, University of Oxford infectious diseases professor Peter Horby said the anti-inflammatory drug dexamethasone was the first to be developed that improved the survival rate of patients with COVID-19. "It is an extremely welcome result," he said.
In the same month, Britain gave the green light for the use of dexamethasone to treat COVID-19 on the National Health Service - right after the release of impressive results from the Recovery Trial.
In general, the scientists discovered that the death rate was nearly 35 percent lower among patients given corticosteroids compared with those who were not. The evaluation included tests directed by health experts in China, U.S., Britain, Canada, Brazil, Spain and France, Bristol University professor Jonathan Sterne said.
The WHO recommendation was made in tandem with the not-for-profit Magic Evidence Ecosystem Foundation - which rendered methodologic assistance to advance and share the new guidance for the treatment of COVID-19.
According to the WHO research team, the meta-analysis is equivalent to roughly 68 percent of seriously ill COVID-19 patients who survived following the medication using corticosteroids, compared with about 60 percent surviving without the treatment.
The continuing international health emergency has sparked a never-before witnessed worldwide collaboration to produce a treatment for the highly contagious virus - which has to date killed approximately 857,824 people and sickened 25,807,000 people.
