Abstract
Aim: There is an emerging role of steroids in the management of
COVID-19. We aimed to compare the outcome of COVID-19 patients (recovery
versus mortality) who were treated with steroids with those who were not
treated with steroids during their course of hospital stay. Methods: A
retrospective analysis of all moderately to severely ill COVID-19
patients, meeting the inclusion and exclusion criteria, admitted to our
center during the study period of four months, was performed. The
patients were categorized into two groups: Group I included 25 patients
who were given steroids, and Group II also included 25 patients who were
not given any steroids during their hospital stay. The primary outcome
(recovery versus mortality), length of hospital stay as well as other
features were compared between the two groups. Results: The mean length
of hospital stay was 9.3 days in the steroids group and 10.9 days in the
non-steroids group with a p value of 0.249. None of the patients was
shifted to a ventilator in either group. One patient in the steroids
group (4%) and two patients in the non-steroids group (8%) needed to
be put on high flow nasal cannula. One patient died in the steroids
group with a recovery rate of 96%, while two patients died in the
non-steroids group with a recovery rate of 92% (p value 0.552).
Conclusion: Treatment with steroids in moderately to severely ill
COVID-19 patients did not decrease the length of hospital stay or
mortality in our study.