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Steroid treatment reduces the risk of severely ill covid patients dying by 20 percent. The new analysis has prompted the WHO to update its advice on how best to treat the disease.
Coronaviruset sars-cov-2 orsakar covid-19.
Researchers have collected data from seven different studies conducted at 121 hospitals in eight countries where patients with covidity had been randomly assigned to treatment with or without steroids, such as dexamethasone. The patients were so ill that they were treated in the intensive care unit.
The results of the analysis, presented in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), show that steroids reduce the risk of death for these patients by 20 percent.
“Steroids are inexpensive and readily available, and our analysis confirms that they are effective in reducing mortality among the most severely ill patients with COVID-19,” said one of the researchers, Jonathan Sterne of the University of Bristol, in a statement.
The study confirms the results of June, when the steroid dexamethasone became the first drug shown to reduce the risk of death from severe COVID-19.
Despite the positive results, steroids do not cure the disease, notes another researcher, Anthony Gordon, a professor at Imperial College London.
“Now we have something that helps, but it is not a cure. That is why it is extremely important that we continue with preventive measures,” he says.
