Clinical status, mortality did not differ for convalescent plasma versus placebo in adults with severe COVID-19 pneumonia<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
<\/b><\/p>\n
<\/b><\/p>\n
MONDAY, Nov. 30, 2020 (HealthDay News) — For adults with severe COVID-19 pneumonia, no significant differences are seen in clinical status or mortality for those receiving convalescent plasma versus placebo, according to a study published online Nov. 24 in the New England Journal of Medicine<\/em>.<\/p>\n Ventura A. Simonovich, M.D., from the Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires in Argentina, and colleagues randomly assigned hospitalized adult patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia to receive either convalescent plasma or placebo in a 2:1 ratio (228 and 105 patients, respectively). The patients’ clinical status 30 days after the intervention was measured on a 6-point ordinal scale ranging from total recovery to death.<\/strong><\/p>\n The researchers observed no significant difference between the convalescent plasma and placebo groups in the distribution of clinical outcomes according to the ordinal scale at day 30 (odds ratio, 0.83; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.52 to 1.35; P = 0.46). Overall mortality was 10.96 and 11.43 percent in the convalescent plasma and placebo groups, respectively, for a risk difference of \u00e2\u0088\u00920.46 percent (95 percent confidence interval, \u00e2\u0088\u00927.8 to 6.8). At day 2 after the intervention, total SARS-CoV-2 antibody titers tended to be higher in the convalescent plasma group. The two groups reported similar adverse events and serious adverse events.<\/p>\n “We believe the use of convalescent plasma as a standard of care in such patients should be reevaluated,” the authors write.<\/p>\n