Table 6.
Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) evidence profile for population, intervention, comparison, outcome 21: Inhaled corticosteroids for mild or moderate coronavirus disease 2019a
| People: Patients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 Settings: Ambulatory patients Intervention: Inhaled corticosteroids (budesonide or ciclesonide) Comparison: No treatment | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Outcomes | Absolute effect |
Relative effect (95% CI) | Number of studies | Certainty of the evidence (GRADE) | |
| With budesonide | Without budesonide | ||||
| All-cause mortality (within 28 d from treatment) | 5 per 1000 | 9 per 1000 | RR: 0.61 (0.22–1.67) | 3 studies [53,54,59] (2189 patients) | ⊕⊕⊖⊖ Low (due to very serious imprecision) |
| Difference: 4 fewer per 1000 (95% CI: –7 to 6) | |||||
| Supplemental oxygen (within 28 d of commencing treatment) | 93 per 1000 | 64 per 1000 | RR: 0.69 (0.49–0.98) | 1 [53] (1559 patients) | ⊕⊕⊕⊖ Moderate (due to serious imprecision) |
| Difference: 29 fewer per 1000 (95% CI: −47 to −1) | |||||
| Serious adverse events (within 28 d of commencing treatment) | 5 per 1000 | 3 per 1000 | RR: 0.51 (0.09–2.76) | 2 [53,54] (1647 patients) | ⊕⊕⊖⊖ Low (due to serious imprecision) |
| Difference: 2 fewer per 1000 (95% CI: −5 to 9) | |||||
COVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019; GRADE, Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation; RR, risk ratio.
aEvidence adopted: Australian guidelines for the clinical care of patients with COVID-19 v56.0 published on 8 April 2022 at https://app.magicapp.org/#/guideline/6268/section/101984. Evidence search date: 1–30 January 2022.