Table 1.

Studies that evaluated the benefits of corticosteroids in COVID-19 patients.

Study, year	Aspect studied	Major findings
Yamaya et al., 2020 [83]	The inhibitory effects of LAMA glycopyrronium, LABA formoterol, and IC budesonide on HCoV-229E replication	Glycopyrronium, formoterol, and a combination of glycopyrronium, formoterol, and budesonide inhibit HCoV-229E replication partly by inhibiting receptor expression and/or endosomal function and that these drugs modulate infection-induced inflammation in the airway
Tomazini et al., 2020 [84]	To determine whether intravenous dexamethasone increases the number of ventilator-free days among patients with COVID-19-associated ARDS	Intravenous dexamethasone plus standard care, compared with standard of care alone, resulted in a statistically significant increase in the number of days alive and free of mechanical ventilation over 28 days (6.6 days vs 4.0 days)
The Writing Committee for the REMAP-CAP Investigators, 2020 [85]	To determine whether hydrocortisone improves outcome for patients with severe COVID-19	In this Bayesian randomized clinical trial that included 403 patients and was stopped early after results from another trial were released, treatment with a 7-day fixed-dose course of hydrocortisone or shock-dependent dosing of hydrocortisone, compared with no hydrocortisone, resulted in 93% and 80% probabilities of superiority, respectively, with regard to the odds of improvement in organ support-free days within 21 days
The RECOVERY Collaborative Group, 2020 [86]	To evaluate the effects of oral or intravenous dexamethasone in hospitalized with COVID-19	22.9% and 25.7% of patients in the dexamethasone group and usual treatment group, respectively, died within 28 days (adjusted odd rate ratio, 0.83; 95% CI [0.75–0.93], P < 0.001)
		Therefore, the use of dexamethasone resulted in lower 28-day mortality among those who were receiving either invasive mechanical ventilation or oxygen alone at randomization but not among those receiving no respiratory support
Ramakrishnan et al., 2021 [88]	To assess if inhaled glucocorticoids would be an effective treatment for COVID-19 patients within 7 days of onset of mild symptoms	14% and 1% in the usual group and budesonide group, respectively, experienced primary outcomes (difference on proportion, 0.131, 95% CI [0.043–0.218], P=0.004)
		Therefore, early administration of inhaled budesonide reduced the likelihood of needing urgent medical care and reduced time to recovery after early COVID-19.