Efficacy and safety of baricitinib for the treatment of hospitalised adults with COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Several clinical trials have evaluated the efficacy and safety of baricitinib in COVID-19 patients. Recently, there have been reports on critical patients, which are different from previous research results. Studies were searched in PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases on January 31, 2023. We performed a meta-analysis to estimate the efficacy and safety of baricitinib for the treatment of hospitalised adults with COVID-19. This study is registered with INPLASY , number 202310086. A total of 3010 patients were included in our analyses. All included studies were randomized controlled trials or prospective study. There was no difference in 14-day mortality between the two groups (OR 0.23 [95% CI 0.03–1.84], I²=72%, P=0.17). In subgroup analyses we found that baricitinib did not seem to improve significantly in 24-day mortality critically ill patients (OR 0.60 [95% CI 0.35–1.02], I²=0%, P=0.06). Fortunately, baricitinib have led to faster recovery and shorter hospital stays for COVID-19 patients. There were no difference in infections and infestations, major adverse cardiovascular events, deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism. Baricitinib is safe. At the same time, we can find that it reduces the mortality of COVID-19 patients, but the prognosis of the critically ill patients is not significantly improved.