Table 1.
Patients' baseline characteristics (n = 267)
| Characteristics | Total (n = 267) | Treatment group (n = 98)a |
Control group (n = 169) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Demographic and clinical data | |||
| Age (years), median (IQR) | 86 (83−90) | 86 (83−89) | 87 (83−90) |
| Male sex, n (%) | 133 (49.8) | 48 (49.0) | 85 (50.3) |
| Co-morbidities, n (%) | |||
| Chronic respiratory disease (including asthma) | 17 (6.4) | 6 (6.1) | 11 (6.5) |
| Chronic heart failure (n = 247) | 111 (41.6) | 44 (44.9) | 67 (39.6) |
| Cardiovascular diseases (including hypertension) (n = 266) | 228 (85.7) | 85 (87.6) | 143 (84.6) |
| Chronic kidney failure | 48 (18.0) | 21 (21.4) | 27 (16.0) |
| Diabetes requiring insulin or complicated (n = 260) | 39 (15.0) | 12 (12.5) | 27 (16.5) |
| Liver cirrhosis | 2 (0.7) | 1 (1.0) | 1 (0.6) |
| Immunosuppression | 10 (3.7) | 4 (4.1) | 6 (3.6) |
| Cancer | 27 (10.2) | 7 (7.1) | 20 (11.9) |
| Body weight (kg), median (IQR) (n = 204) | 71 (61–79) | 72 (62–80) | 70 (60–78) |
| Autonomy (GIR score), n (%) (n = 261) | |||
| GIR score 1 or 2 (Low autonomy) | 48 (18.4) | 14 (14.3) | 34 (20.9) |
| GIR score 3 or 4 (Moderate autonomy) | 78 (29.9) | 36 (36.7) | 42 (25.8) |
| GIR score 5 or 6 (High autonomy) | 135 (51.7) | 48 (49.0) | 87 (53.4) |
| Usual place of residence, n (%) | |||
| Community | 183 (68.5) | 64 (65.3) | 119 (70.4) |
| Retirement homes | 19 (7.1) | 7 (7.1) | 12 (7.1) |
| Nursing homes/Hospital | 62 (23.2) | 26 (26.5) | 36 (21.3) |
| Other | 3 (1.1) | 1 (1.0) | 2 (1.2) |
| Treatment by ACEIs or ARBs, n (%) (n = 258) | 119 (46.3) | 39 (40.6) | 80 (49.4) |
| COVID-19 data at baseline | |||
| Time from symptom onset to baseline (days), median (IQR) (n = 262) | 7 (4–10) | 8 (5–11) | 6 (3–10) |
| Confusion on eligibility date, n (%) (n = 261) | 92 (35.2) | 35 (35.7) | 57 (35.0) |
| Dehydration on eligibility date, n (%) (n = 264) | 84 (31.8) | 27 (27.8) | 57 (34.1) |
| Respiratory rate (breaths/min), median (IQR) (n = 211) | 26 (22–31) | 28 (24–32) | 26 (22–30) |
| Oxygen flow at admission (L/min), median (IQR) (n = 261) | 4 (3–7) | 4 (3–6) | 4 (3–7.2) |
| Systolic blood pressure (mmHg), median (IQR) (n = 256) | 134 (119–150) | 132 (120–150) | 134 (116–150) |
| Neutrophil count (count/mm3), median (IQR) (n = 257) | 5400 (3810–8020) | 5220 (3800–7600) | 5575 (3832–8478) |
| Lymphocytes count (count/mm3), median (IQR) (n = 258) | 740 (502–1080) | 680 (480–1080) | 790 (520–1080) |
| Platelet count (count × 1000/mm3), median (IQR) (n = 260) | 204 (156–254) | 211 (164–256) | 199 (152–253) |
| C-reactive protein (CRP) > 40 mg/L, median (IQR) (n = 261) | 105 (69–169) | 114 (69–171) | 104 (68–164) |
| Percentage of lung affected >50% on the CT scan (n = 168b) | 37 (13.9) | 18 (18.3) | 19 (11.2) |
| Decision to limit and stop active treatments (at baseline) | 195 (73.0) | 79 (80.6) | 116 (68.7) |
| Corticosteroid treatment data | |||
| Corticosteroid, n (%) | |||
| Dexamethasone | 15 (5.6) | 15 (15.3) | |
| Methylprednisolone | 51 (19.1) | 51 (52.0) | |
| Prednisolone | 4 (1.5) | 4 (4.1) | |
| Prednisone | 22 (8.2) | 22 (22.4) | |
| Hydrocortisone | 3 (1.1) | 3 (3.1) | — |
| High-dose corticosteroid (≥120 mg/day) [16] | 28 (10.5) | 28 (28.6) | — |
| Corticosteroid treatment duration (days), median (IQR) (n = 94) | 5 (3–11) | 5 (3–11) | — |
| Corticosteroid dose (mg/kg/day eq. prednisone), median (IQR) | 1.1 (0.9–1.6) | 1.1 (0.9–1.6) | |
Abbreviations: ACEIs, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors; ARBs, angiotensin receptor blockers; IQR, interquartile range .
The numbers in parentheses in the first column correspond to the quantity of data available before the imputation of missing baseline data by using multiple imputations with chained equations. Results are presented as % (count) unless stated otherwise.
This corresponds to 95 patients receiving corticosteroids with at least 0.4 mg/kg in the 72 h after baseline plus one patient from the control group randomly assigned to the treatment group to account for immortal time bias (see the detailed methods in the Supplementary Appendix S3).
Seventy-seven patients did not have a CT scan at admission.