Purpose To evaluate the efficacy and safety of methylprednisolone in treating the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. Methods A retrospective cohort study was conducted, and all COVID-19 patients were recruited who were admitted to the Yichang Third People’s Hospital from February 1st to March 31st, 2020. One-to-one propensity score matching (PSM) was used for minimizing confounding effects. The primary outcome was hospital mortality, with the secondary outcomes being the time needed for a positive SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid test to turn negative and the length of hospital stay. Results Totaling 367 patients with COVID-19 hospitalized at the Yichang Third People’s Hospital were identified, of whom 276 were mild or stable COVID-19, and 67 were serious or critically ill. Among them, 255 patients were treated using methylprednisolone, and 188 did not receive any corticosteroid-related treatment. After PSM, no statistically significant difference was found in the baseline characteristics between the two groups. Regarding the outcomes, there also were no statistically significant difference between the two groups. Patients without the use of methylprednisolone were more quickly to obtain negative results of their nasopharyngeal swab tests of SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid after treatment, compared to those receiving methylprednisolone. Conclusion Methylprednisolone could not improve the prognosis of patients with COVID-19, and the efficacy and safety of the use of methylprednisolone in patients with COVID-19 still remain uncertain, thus the use of corticosteroids clinically in patients with COVID-19 should be with cautions.

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Pramipexole is the first‐line medication recommended by the British National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Pramipexole is predominantly eliminated by renal excretion. The aim was to develop a physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model of pramipexole, providing a basis for its individualized administration. The role of glomerular filtration and organic cation transporter 2 (OCT2) in renal tubular secretion was considered. Plasma concentration‐time profiles of pramipexole were predicted and validated, first in healthy populations and then in PD patients with varied renal function. Finally, the pharmacokinetics of PD patients with different degrees of renal impairment were predicted. The simulated pharmacokinetic parameters, including maximum plasma concentration (Cmax), area under the plasma concentration‐time curve (AUC), time to maximum plasma concentration (tmax), and steady‐state trough plasma concentration values, obtained using the PBPK model were validated using fold error values, which were all smaller than 2. The successfully validated model supported that OCT2‐mediated tubular secretion was affected proportionally to changes in glomerular filtration for various degrees of renal impairment. The predicted AUC0‐inf values were increased 1.16‐, 1.76‐, 3.26‐, and 9.48‐fold in mild, moderate, and severe renal impairment and end‐stage renal disease (ESRD) subjects, resepctively, compared with PD patients with normal renal function. It appears that PD patients with mild renal impairment are unlikely to require dose adjustment (0.125 mg 3 times a day). The pramipexole dose should be reduced to approximately 0.125 mg twice daily, 0.125 mg once daily, and 0.0375 mg once daily in PD patients with moderate renal impairment, severe renal impairment, and ESRD, respectively.