Outcome of using Intravenous Immunoglobulin (IVIG) in critically ill
COVID-19 patients’: a retrospective, multi-centric cohort study
Abstract
Abstract Background: To access the effect of Intravenous immunoglobulin
(IVIG) in critically ill corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
patients. Method: In this retrospective matched cohort study, records of
three tertiary centers with large number of COVID-19 admissions were
evaluated and used. Based on treatment options, patients were divided
into two groups, standard COVID-19 treatment (109 patients) and IVIG
treatment (74 patients) patients. Also, the effect of IVIG in different
dosages was evaluated. Patients with IVIG treatment were divided into
three groups of low (0.25 gr/kg), medium (0.5 gr/kg), and high (1
gr/kg) dose. Data analysis was performed using independent t-test and
One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) to compare the outcomes between
two groups, including duration of hospitalization, intensive care unit
(ICU) length of stay, and mortality rate. Result: The duration of
hospitalization in the IVIG group were significantly longer than
standard treatment (13.74 days vs. 11.10 days, p<0.05). There
was not a significant difference between the two groups in ICU length of
stay, number of intubated patients and duration of mechanical
ventilation (P>0.05). Also initial outcomes in IVIG
subgroups were compared separately with the standard treatment group.
The results indicated that only the duration of hospitalization in the
IVIG subgroup with medium dose is significantly longer than the standard
treatment group (P<0.01). Conclusion: Using IVIG is not
beneficial for COVID-19 patients based on no remarkable differences in
duration of hospitalization, ICU length of stay, duration of mechanical
ventilation and even mortality rate.