Table 1. Characteristics of the Patients at Baseline, According to Treatment Assignment and Level of Respiratory Support.*.
| Characteristic | Treatment Assignment | Respiratory Support Received at Randomization |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dexamethasone (N=2104) |
Usual Care (N=4321) |
No Receipt of Oxygen (N=1535) |
Oxygen Only (N=3883) |
Invasive Mechanical Ventilation (N=1007) |
|
| Age† | |||||
| Mean — yr | 66.9±15.4 | 65.8±15.8 | 69.4±17.5 | 66.7±15.3 | 59.1±11.4 |
| Distribution — no. (%) | |||||
| <70 yr | 1141 (54) | 2504 (58) | 659 (43) | 2148 (55) | 838 (83) |
| 70 to 79 yr | 469 (22) | 859 (20) | 338 (22) | 837 (22) | 153 (15) |
| ≥80 yr | 494 (23) | 958 (22) | 538 (35) | 898 (23) | 16 (2) |
| Sex — no. (%) | |||||
| Male | 1338 (64) | 2749 (64) | 891 (58) | 2462 (63) | 734 (73) |
| Female‡ | 766 (36) | 1572 (36) | 644 (42) | 1421 (37) | 273 (27) |
| Median no. of days since symptom onset (IQR)§ | 8 (5–13) | 9 (5–13) | 6 (3–10) | 9 (5–12) | 13 (8–18) |
| Median no. of days since hospitalization (IQR) | 2 (1–5) | 2 (1–5) | 2 (1–6) | 2 (1–4) | 5 (3–9) |
| Respiratory support received — no. (%) | |||||
| No oxygen | 501 (24) | 1034 (24) | 1535 (100) | NA | NA |
| Oxygen only | 1279 (61) | 2604 (60) | NA | 3883 (100) | NA |
| Invasive mechanical ventilation | 324 (15) | 683 (16) | NA | NA | 1007 (100) |
| Previous coexisting disease | |||||
| Any | 1174 (56) | 2417 (56) | 911 (59) | 2175 (56) | 505 (50) |
| Diabetes | 521 (25) | 1025 (24) | 342 (22) | 950 (24) | 254 (25) |
| Heart disease | 586 (28) | 1171 (27) | 519 (34) | 1074 (28) | 164 (16) |
| Chronic lung disease | 415 (20) | 931 (22) | 351 (23) | 883 (23) | 112 (11) |
| Tuberculosis | 6 (<1) | 19 (<1) | 8 (1) | 11 (<1) | 6 (1) |
| HIV infection | 12 (1) | 20 (<1) | 5 (<1) | 21 (1) | 6 (1) |
| Severe liver disease¶ | 37 (2) | 82 (2) | 32 (2) | 72 (2) | 15 (1) |
| Severe kidney impairment‖ | 166 (8) | 358 (8) | 119 (8) | 253 (7) | 152 (15) |
| SARS-CoV-2 test result | |||||
| Positive | 1850 (88) | 3848 (89) | 1333 (87) | 3416 (88) | 949 (94) |
| Negative | 247 (12) | 453 (10) | 193 (13) | 452 (12) | 55 (5) |
| Test result not yet known | 7 (<1) | 20 (<1) | 9 (1) | 15 (<1) | 3 (<1) |
Plus–minus values are means ±SD. HIV denotes human immunodeficiency virus, IQR interquartile range, NA not applicable, and SARS-CoV-2 severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.
There was a significant (P=0.01) difference in the mean age between patients in the dexamethasone group and those in the usual care group, but there were no significant differences between the groups in any other baseline characteristic.
Included in this category were 6 pregnant women.
Data regarding the number of days since symptom onset were missing for 4 patients in the dexamethasone group and 13 patients in the usual care group; these patients were excluded from estimates of the median number of days since onset.
Severe liver disease was defined as requiring ongoing specialist care.
Severe kidney impairment was defined as an estimated glomerular filtration rate of less than 30 ml per minute per 1.73 m2.