Summary of findings 1. Summary of findings table ‐ Combined hormonal contraception (estrogen plus progestin) compared to no contraception for COVID‐19 positive patients.
Combined hormonal contraception (estrogen plus progestin) compared to no contraception for COVID‐19 positive patients | ||||||
Patient or population: COVID‐19 positive patients Setting: COVID‐19 positive patients in tertiary care setting Intervention: combined hormonal contraception Comparison: no hormonal contraception | ||||||
Outcomes | Anticipated absolute effects* (95% CI) | Relative effect (95% CI) | № of participants (studies) | Certainty of the evidence (GRADE) | Comments | |
Risk with no hormonal contraception | Risk with combined hormonal contraception | |||||
Mortality | 5 per 1000 | 5 per 1000 (2 to 11) | OR 1.00 (0.41 to 2.40) | 18892 (1 observational study) | ⊕⊝⊝⊝ Very lowa,b,c | |
Hospitalization | 7 per 1000d | 5 per 1000 (4 to 6)d | OR 0.79 (0.64 to 0.97) | 295689 (1 observational study) | ⊕⊝⊝⊝ Very lowc,e,f | Combined hormonal contraception may reduce hospitalization slightly. COVID‐19 positivity not confirmed through testing; women were using a mobile phone application to track COVID‐19 symptoms. Restricted to patients with BMI < 35 kg/m2. |
Venous thromboembolism | 1 of 6 pediatric COVID‐19 patients with pulmonary embolism had reportedly been using combined hormonal contraception. 1 of 7 reproductive‐aged female COVID‐19 patients with cerebral venous thromboembolism was using "oral contraceptive pills." This patient also had positive anti‐phospholipid antibodies. | 13 (2 observational studies) | ⊕⊝⊝⊝ Very lowg,h | 2 case series were included with 13 total patients, describing venous thromboembolism in COVID‐19 patients. Neither case study ascertained active use of hormonal contraception at time of the outcome. i | ||
Intubation | 1 of 6 people who were not using hormonal contraception required intubation compared to 1 of 1 person reportedly using oral contraceptive pills. | 7 (1 observational study) | ⊕⊝⊝⊝ Very lowg,i | Case series of 7 reproductive‐aged women, all of whom were COVID‐19 positive and developed cerebral venous thromboembolism. | ||
Arterial thromboembolism ‐ not measured | ‐ | ‐ | ‐ | ‐ | ‐ | |
Acute respiratory distress syndrome ‐ not measured | ‐ | ‐ | ‐ | ‐ | ‐ | |
*The risk in the intervention group (and its 95% confidence interval) is based on the assumed risk in the comparison group and the relative effect of the intervention (and its 95% CI). CI: confidence interval; OR: odds ratio | ||||||
GRADE Working Group grades of evidence High certainty: we are very confident that the true effect lies close to that of the estimate of the effect. Moderate certainty: we are moderately confident in the effect estimate: the true effect is likely to be close to the estimate of the effect, but there is a possibility that it is substantially different. Low certainty: our confidence in the effect estimate is limited: the true effect may be substantially different from the estimate of the effect. Very low certainty: we have very little confidence in the effect estimate: the true effect is likely to be substantially different from the estimate of effect. | ||||||
See interactive version of this table: https://gdt.gradepro.org/presentations/#/isof/isof_question_revman_web_432099564019182608. |
a Downgraded for serious risk of bias given no ascertainment of combined hormonal contraception exposure and no information on variables used for propensity score matching, increasing risk of residual confounding. b Downgraded for indirectness given no ascertainment of combined hormonal contraception use during time of outcome. c Downgraded for imprecision given results reported in only 1 study. d Overall 1889 of 295,689 total patients were hospitalized for an absolute risk of 6.4 per 1000 total. Hospitalizations were not reported separately for those using combined hormonal contraception (n = 64,253) versus those not using contraception (n = 231,436). Anticipated absolute effects were estimated by applying the adjusted relative effect estimate to determine expected number of intervention and control patients who were hospitalized. e Downgraded for serious risk of bias due to risk of selection bias and all data are self‐reported by users. f Downgraded for indirectness as users of the application were not confirmed to be COVID‐19 positive, but were tracking symptoms given concern for possible COVID‐19 positivity. g Downgraded 2 levels for risk of bias as case series are likely to be subject to significant bias. h Downgraded for imprecision for small sample sizes. i Downgraded 2 levels for imprecision given small sample size and results reported in only 1 study.