Background
Convalescent plasma is frequently administered to patients with Covid-19 and has been reported, largely on the basis of observational data, to improve clinical outcomes. Minimal data are available from adequately powered randomized, controlled trials.
Methods
We randomly assigned hospitalized adult patients with severe Covid-19 pneumonia in a 2:1 ratio to receive convalescent plasma or placebo. The primary outcome was the patient’s clinical status 30 days after the intervention, as measured on a six-point ordinal scale ranging from total recovery to death.
Results
A total of 228 patients were assigned to receive convalescent plasma and 105 to receive placebo. The median time from the onset of symptoms to enrollment in the trial was 8 days (interquartile range, 5 to 10), and hypoxemia was the most frequent severity criterion for enrollment. The infused convalescent plasma had a median titer of 1:3200 of total SARS-CoV-2 antibodies (interquartile range, 1:800 to 1:3200]. No patients were lost to follow-up. At day 30 day, no significant difference was noted between the convalescent plasma group and the placebo group in the distribution of clinical outcomes according to the ordinal scale (odds ratio, 0.83 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.52 to 1.35; P=0.46). Overall mortality was 10.96% in the convalescent plasma group and 11.43% in the placebo group, for a risk difference of −0.46 percentage points (95% CI, −7.8 to 6.8). Total SARS-CoV-2 antibody titers tended to be higher in the convalescent plasma group at day 2 after the intervention. Adverse events and serious adverse events were similar in the two groups.
Conclusions
No significant differences were observed in clinical status or overall mortality between patients treated with convalescent plasma and those who received placebo. (PlasmAr ClinicalTrials.gov number,
NCT04383535
.)
Key Points
Question
What patient characteristics are associated with benefit from treatment with COVID-19 convalescent plasma (CCP)?
Findings
This prognostic study of 2287 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 identified a combination of baseline characteristics that predict a gradation of benefit from CCP compared with treatment without CCP. Preexisting health conditions (diabetes, cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases), blood type A or AB, and earlier stage of COVID-19 were associated with a larger treatment benefit.
Meaning
These findings suggest that simple patient information collected at hospitalization can be used to guide CCP treatment decisions for patients with COVID-19.
The ARG algorithm was successfully validated in a pilot clinical trial, encouraging further tests with a larger number of patients and in outpatient settings.
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