Table 3.
GRADE analysis. GRADE, Grading of Recommendation Assessment, Development, and Evaluation; CI, confidence interval; OR, odds ratio; RIS, required information size. ∗Open label design. †Pre-print. ‡Asymmetrical funnel plot. ¶Positive Harbord's test. §Substantial heterogeneity. ||Only 5% RIS accrued.
| Certainty assessment |
No of patients |
Effect |
Certainty | Importance | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No of studies | Study design | Risk of bias | Inconsistency | Indirectness | Imprecision | Other considerations | Convalescent plasma therapy | Standard care | Relative (95% CI) | Absolute (95% CI) | ||
| Mortality | ||||||||||||
| 17 | Randomised trials | Very serious∗,† | Not serious | Not serious | Not serious | Publication bias strongly suspected‡,¶ | 1986/8027 (24.7%) | 1929/7560 (25.5%) | OR 0.94 (0.85–1.04) |
12 fewer per 1000 (from 30 fewer to 8 more) |
 Very low |
Critical |
| Need for ICU admission | ||||||||||||
| 2 | Randomised trials | Not serious | Serious§ | Not serious | Very serious|| | Publication bias strongly suspected‡,¶ | 69/308 (22.4%) | 31/185 (16.8%) | OR 0.80 (0.21–3.09) |
29 fewer per 1000 (from 127 fewer to 216 more) |
Very low |
Critical |
| Need for mechanical ventilation | ||||||||||||
| 13 | Randomised trials | Very serious∗,† | Not serious | Not serious | Not serious | Publication bias strongly suspected‡,¶ | 1151/7105 (16.2%) | 1042/6771 (15.4%) | OR 1.01 (0.92–1.11) |
1 more per 1000 (from 11 fewer to 14 more) |
Very low |
Critical |
| Total adverse events | ||||||||||||
| 15 | Randomised trials | Very serious∗,†,‡ | Not serious | Not serious | Not serious | Publication bias strongly suspected‡,¶ | 4324/7782 (55.6%) | 4136/7278 (56.8%) | OR 1.03 (0.80–1.34) |
7 more per 1000 (from 55 fewer to 70 more) |
Very low |
Critical |