Covid-19 Deaths Significantly Reduced by Use of Steroids, Analysis Says

Studies involving 1,700 patients showed consistent benefits from corticosteroid treatment, raising hopes that cheap drugs can help treat severe cases

By Joseph Walker of The WSJ. Excerpts:

"A new analysis of several studies in which steroid drugs were used to treat severely ill Covid-19 patients found the drugs significantly helped reduce patient deaths, bolstering earlier, preliminary evidence for the benefit of these medications.

In multiple studies involving a total of 1,700 patients, a number of corticosteroids—anti-inflammatory drugs that can damp the effects of an overactive immune system—helped reduce deaths from Covid-19 by about a third, compared with patients who didn’t receive steroids, according to the analysis published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association."

"The study found relatively consistent benefits for using the drugs in severely ill patients: Of 678 severely ill patients who received steroids, 32.7% died, compared with 41.5% of patients receiving usual care or placebo."

"the results are especially encouraging because of the consistency of the benefit to patients seen across different types of steroids"

they appear to damp a hyperactive immune response that is thought to be a major cause of death in some Covid-19 patients.

"The new analysis confirms the results of a U.K. study first released in June that showed that dexamethasone reduced deaths in Covid-19 patients requiring ventilators by about a third."