Because the optimal treatment for COVID-19 is still unknown, it is important to explore every potential way of improving the chances of survival for COVID-19 patients. The aim of the study was to analyze the effectiveness of convalescent plasma on COVID-19 patients. The study population consisted of 78 patients diagnosed with COVID-19, selected from the SARSTer national database, who received convalescent plasma. The impact on clinical and laboratory parameters was assessed. A clinical improvement was observed in 62 (79%) patients, and 10 (13%) patients died from COVID-19. No side effects of the convalescent plasma treatment were observed. When plasma was administered earlier than 7 days from diagnosis, the total hospitalization time was shorter (p < 0.05). Plasma efficacy was inferior to remdesivir in endpoints such as the necessity and duration of oxygen therapy, the duration of hospitalization, and mortality rate, and inferior to other drugs in the case of the duration of hospitalization and the necessity of constant oxygen therapy, but comparable in most other measured endpoints. A comparison of a 30-day mortality rate in patients who received plasma and remdesivir (4/25, 16%) and who received only plasma (6/53, 11%) showed no significant difference. Convalescent plasma efficacy is inferior to remdesivir when treating COVID-19 patients but the addition of remdesivir to plasma does not improve the treatment effectiveness. In most endpoints, plasma was comparable to other treatment options. In our opinion, convalescent plasma may be used as a supportive treatment in COVID-19 patients because of the low frequency of adverse effects and availability, but must be given as early from the diagnosis as possible.
Long-term analyses of demographical and clinical characteristics of COVID-19 patients can provide a better overview of the clinical course of the disease. They can also help understand whether changes in infection symptomatology, disease severity, and outcome occur over time. We aimed to analyze the demographics, early symptoms of infection, laboratory parameters, and clinical manifestation of COVID-19 patients hospitalized during the first 17 months of the pandemic in Poland (March 2020–June 2021). The patients’ demographical and clinical data (n = 5199) were extracted from the national SARSTer database encompassing 30 medical centers in Poland and statistically assessed. Patients aged 50–64 were most commonly hospitalized due to COVID-19 regardless of the pandemic period. There was no shift in the age of admitted patients and patients who died throughout the studied period. Men had higher C-reactive protein and interleukin-6 levels and required oxygenation and mechanical ventilation more often. No gender difference in fatality rate was seen, although the age of males who died was significantly lower. A share of patients with baseline SpO2 < 91%, presenting respiratory, systemic and gastrointestinal symptoms was higher in the later phase of a pandemic than in the first three months. Cough, dyspnea and fever were more often presented in men, while women had a higher frequency of anosmia, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting. This study shows some shifts in SARS-CoV-2 pathogenicity between March 2020 and July 2021 in the Polish cohort of hospitalized patients and documents various gender-differences in this regard. The results represent a reference point for further analyses conducted under the dominance of different SARS-CoV-2 variants.
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