Misamis Oriental (June 16, 2020) – The leading researchers in the United Kingdom conducted an experimental study and found preliminary results that dexamethasone might be the key to help treat COVID-19 patients, even the sickest ones. This study happened in a hospital that would require oxygen or ventilation. Based on the initial findings, which were being accumulated, these leading researchers saw potential signs that this extensively obtainable steroid drug dexamethasone could treat the sickest COVID-19 patients. Though the initial result of the study did not reach its publications in a peer-reviewed journal, one expert who reviewed the trial of steroid drug would call it a discovery.
In a computer-generated press meeting on Tuesday, the two lead researchers who conducted the UK-based Recovery Trial said that a little dosage of dexamethasone could reduce the risk of death. This UK-based Recovery Trial team declared to the reporters that the small amount of dosage of dexamethasone to be given to patients for 10 days could shrink the menace of demise by a third among COVID-19 patient population in the trial.
Martin Landray, the deputy chief investigator of the Recovery Trial and the University of Oxford Professor, said on Tuesday that the preliminary findings of the study showed a statistically substantial result.
Landray pointed out that the findings of the study using the dexamethasone drug exhibited an entirely gripping outcome. He added that patients who were on oxygen demonstrated a substantial risk reduction of about one-fifth.
As well, Landray made it clear about the outstanding questions if the result of the study would treat all COVID-19 patients regardless of the physical settings. He and the team did only clarify that patients who were on oxygen or ventilation in hospitals showed positive outcomes. Because of this, some people who treated COVID-19 patients at home did not take the dexamethasone.
Landray accentuated that he and the team did not administer the trial on patients in the community. Instead, he only emphasized those patients who received the treatment under oxygen or ventilation in hospitals. He then underscored the results of the study that COVID-19 patients, not on oxygen, did not present any positive outcome.
Regarding the Recovery Trial, the leading researchers collected the data, gathered other sources, and compiled them. Included in the study have been about 2,100 hospitalized COVID-19 patients through random sampling to take dexamethasone. Additionally, these researchers would include another group, which could consist of 4,300 hospitalized COVID-19 patients through random sampling to get the common standard of care.
Moreover, patients during the Recovery Trial received a dosage of 6mg dexamethasone once a day for up to 10 days. This drug will be taken via injections or oral methods. Based on the preliminary result, the researchers recounted that COVID-19 patients who received dexamethasone did not show any stern adverse reactions.
Landray said that he and others did not find clear adverse reactions to the Recovery Trial then. He also declared that people should realize two points in the trial. Firstly, the administration of dexamethasone drug could only work well on COVID-19 patients who required oxygen or ventilation. Landray and others cited that COVID-19 patients on oxygen or ventilators received great benefits from the trial. Secondly, the use of dexamethasone drug did not display benefits to those COVID-19 patients who did not require oxygen or ventilators.
Finally, Landray mentioned that they conducted the trial to focus on mortality to help COVID-19 patients. However, the dexamethasone drug showed conceivable results. COVID-19 patients who took the medication under oxygen or ventilator exhibited positive recovery. Indubitably, they said that they have looked for other causes of deaths among other COVID-19 patients if they had other forms of complications and infections but they have not found one.
References
-
- Howard, J. (2020). Steroid reduces risk of dying in sickest coronavirus patients, preliminary study results suggest. Retrieved June 16, 202o from https://cnnphilippines.com/world/2020/6/16/Steroid-reduces-risk-of-dying-in-sickest-coronavirus-patients–preliminary-study-results-suggest.html?fbclid=IwAR2c21uVf95sXZc9_cd0oXbqbYdd_IQTZ45rgHlTePJcDTe7kAqghk-3EqU
- Photo credited from the daubao.com
