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ABSTRACT
Type 1 interferons, especially interferon-beta, has been reported to be effective in COVID-19 patients in multiple randomized controlled trials. The aim of our meta-analysis and systematic review is to assess efficacy of subcutaneous IFN-beta in regards to mortality and discharge rate. Prospective, retrospective and randomized controlled trials were included. Primary outcomes measured were 28-day mortality and discharge rate. Secondary outcomes measured were mean hospital stay and post-intervention intubation rate. A thorough literature search was conducted in Medline, PubMed, Ovid journals, Google Scholar, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials & Database of Systematic Reviews from 1 April 2020 to 28 February 2021. Relative risk was calculated using both the Mantel–Haenszel method (fixed-effects model) and DerSimonian Laird method (random effects model). The heterogeneity among studies was tested using Cochran’s Q test, based upon inverse variance weights. 7 studies were included in the meta-analysis and systematic review. The IFN-beta group did not improve the 28-day mortality (RR = 1.276; 95% CI: 1.106–1.472, p = 0.001) or the discharge rate (RR = 0.906; 95% CI = 0.85–0.95, p = < 0.001). The mean hospital stay was 11.95± 2.5 days in the interferon-beta group and 11.43 ± 3.74 days in the traditional treatment group. Likewise, interferon-beta did not add any advantage to post-intervention intubation rate (RR = 0.92; 95% CI = 0.7841–1.0816, p = 0.3154). Our findings revealed that use of subcutaneous interferon-beta is futile in COVID-19.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Authors’ contribution
Conceptualization: Asif AA, Chatterjee T, Hussain H, Senthil Kumaran S
Methodology: Asif AA, Chatterjee T, Syed SB, Varun V
Formal analysis: Asif AA, Chatterjee T, Tharoor M, Hussain H
Data curation: Asif AA, Syed SB, Rangwala US
Software: Asif AA, Chatterjee T
Validation: Asif AA, Syed SB, Chatterjee T, Singhal M
Investigation: Asif AA, Senthil Kumaran S, Tharoor M, Rathore U,
Writing - original draft preparation: Asif AA, Chatterjee T, Hussain H, Syed SB, Rathore U, Tharoor M
Writing - review and editing: Asif AA, Senthil Kumaran S, Varun V, Singhal M, Rangwala US
Approval of final manuscript: Asif AA, Hussain H, Senthil Kumaran S, Syed SB, Vanka V, Tharoor M, Rangwala US, Rathore U, Singhal M, Chatterjee T
Ethics approval
Our meta-analysis is exempted from ethics/ IRB approval because we collected and synthesized data from previous clinical trials in which informed consent had already been obtained by the trial investigators, and our meta-analysis addresses very similar questions to the research question for which the data were collected (and to which patients gave consent).