Table 2. A table summarizing the number of NAC-treated studies on COVID-19 severity and mortality parameters, meta-analysis summary effect, 95% confidence interval, statistical significance, heterogeneity (%), and study bias.
| COVID-19 severity indices | Number of studies | Summary effect | 95% CI | p-value (Summary effect) | heterogeneity (I2, %) | p-value (Egger’s test) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mortality | 6 | RR, 0.65 | 0.56 to 0.75 | <0.0001 | 71.6 | 0.86 |
| CRP | 5 | SMD, −0.32 | −0.56 to −0.09 | 0.0070 | 87.6 | 0.28 |
| D-dimer | 3 | SMD, −0.35 | −0.59 to −0.10 | 0.0062 | 89.6 | 0.79 |
| Ferritin | 3 | SMD, 0.11 | −0.27 to 0.48 | 0.5798 | 72.7 | 0.31 |
| Hospital stay | 2 | SMD, −0.06 | −0.32 to 0.20 | 0.6394 | 62.1 | ---- |
| ICU-stay | 2 | SMD, −0.04 | −0.30 to 0.22 | 0.7757 | 59.3 | ----- |
| PaO2/FiO2 | 4 | SMD, 0.76 | 0.48 to 1.03 | <0.0001 | 90.9 | 0.86 |