Table 3.
Treatment and prognosis in critical or severe COVID-19 cases with control and pulse steroid groups
| Variable | Control steroid (n=14) | Pulse steroid (n=30) | Total (n=44) | P-value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High flow nasal cannula oxygen | 14 (100) | 29 (96.7) | 43 (97.7) | 0.490 |
| Mechanical ventilation | 4 (28.6) | 6 (20.0) | 10 (22.7) | 0.527 |
| Duration of mechanical ventilation (day) | 18 (11–33) | 8 (4–10) | 10 (6–8) | 0.063 |
| Other treatmenta) | 1 (7.1) | 3 (10.0) | 4 (9.1) | 0.759 |
| Prone positionb) | 7 (50.0) | 21 (70.0) | 28 (63.6) | 0.199 |
| In-hospital mortality | 6 (42.9) | 7 (23.3) | 31 (70.5) | 0.186 |
| In-hospital mortality among moderate and mild ARDS groups | 4 (44.4) | 2 (13.3) | 6 (25.0) | 0.088 |
| In-hospital mortality among severe ARDS group | 2 (40.0) | 5 (33.3) | 7 (35.0) | 0.933 |
| 28-Day mortality | 5 (35.7) | 7 (23.3) | 32 (72.7) | 0.390 |
| Cause of death | 0.255 | |||
| Respiratory failure | 4 (28.6) | 5 (16.7) | 9 (20.5) | |
| Hepatic failure | 2 (14.3) | 0 | 2 (4.5) | |
| Arrhythmia | 0 | 1 (3.3) | 1 (2.3) | |
| Renal failure | 0 | 1 (3.3) | 1 (2.3) | |
| Length of hospital stay (day) | 14 (12–24) | 11 (9–16) | 11 (8–17) | 0.039d) |
| Complication after steroid use | 1 (7.1) | 3 (9.9) | 4 (9.0) | 0.295 |
| Uncontrolled hyperglycemia | 0 | 2 (6.7) | 2 (4.8) | |
| Othersc) | 1 (7.1) | 1 (3.3) | 2 (4.8) |
Values are presented as number (%) or median (interquartile range).
COVID-19: coronavirus disease 2019; ARDS: acute respiratory distress syndrome.
a)
Other treatment includes renal replacement therapy or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation;
b)
Awake prone positioning;
c)
One gastrointestinal bleeding case in control steroid group and 1 candidemia case in pulse steroid group;
d)
Mann-Whitney U-test for comparisons between the control and pulse steroid groups.