Table 1.
Baseline characteristics of patients treated with glucocorticoids and their paired controls.
| Paired subcohorts (total patients)a |
Paired subcohorts (surviving patients)a |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glucocorticoids (n = 25) | Control (n = 25) | p | Glucocorticoids (n = 20) | Control (n = 20) | p | |
| Age (years) | 69.84 | 68.76 | 0.796 | 67.70 | 68.10 | 0.932 |
| Males (n) | 20 | 20 | 1.000 | 16 | 15 | 1.000 |
| Obesity (n) | 1 | 1 | 1.000 | 1 | 1 | 1.000 |
| CHF (n) | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | – |
| CKD (n) | 6 | 6 | 1.000 | 4 | 5 | 1.000 |
| SAHS (n) | 2 | 3 | 0.637 | 0 | 2 | 0.487 |
| Saturation (%) | 94.8 | 95.0 | 0.788 | 94.8 | 94.8 | 0.971 |
| Systolic BP (mmHg) | 127.5 | 125.5 | 0.636 | 126.7 | 123.5 | 0.488 |
| Diastolic BP (mmHg) | 73.9 | 71.8 | 0.512 | 74.1 | 71.4 | 0.384 |
| HR (bpm) | 75.0 | 77.1 | 0.370 | 73.9 | 76.7 | 0.321 |
| Temperature (°C) | 36.4 | 36.6 | 0.214 | 36.4 | 36.6 | 0.351 |
| SFb | 3.1 | 3.2 | 0.673 | 3.1 | 3.2 | 0.649 |
| SF tendencyc | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.386 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.495 |
| X-ray involvementd | 2.3 | 2.3 | 0.987 | 2.4 | 2.3 | 0.466 |
| CRP (mg/dL) | 10.3 | 10.3 | 0.946 | 10.7 | 10.5 | 0.938 |
| Urea | 44.8 (n = 15) | 42.0 (n = 17) | 0.744 | 45.3 (n = 11) | 42.2 (n = 12) | 0.644 |
| Hydroxychloroquine (n) | 23 | 23 | 1.000 | 19 | 18 | 1.000 |
| Lop/Rit (n) | 21 | 21 | 1.000 | 18 | 18 | 1.000 |
| Interferon (n) | 2 | 2 | 1.000 | 1 | 1 | 1.000 |
| Tocilizumab (n) | 6 | 2 | 0.247 | 5 | 2 | 0.407 |
| Azithromycin (n) | 18 | 20 | 0.742 | 13 | 17 | 0.273 |
HR: heart rate; CHF: congestive heart failure; CKD: chronic kidney disease; Lop/Rit: lopinavir-ritonavir; BP: blood pressure; CRP: C-reactive protein; SF: saturation (%)/fraction of inspired O2 (%); SAHS: sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome.
The total of paired patients were used in the calculations of lung function in the following 96 h. Surviving patients were used for the calculations related to time to discharge.
Maximum value of 4.76, corresponding to 100% saturation with 21% FiO2.
Change in SF with respect to the day prior to the start of the follow-up period.
Number of affected quadrants on an anteroposterior chest x-ray. Range: 0–4 (0: no involvement; 4: involvement of upper and lower lobes of both lungs).