Efficacy of Dexamethasone Treatment for Patients With ARDS Caused by COVID-19

Summary

Background: There are no proven therapies specific for Covid-19. The full spectrum of Covid-19 ranges from asymptomatic disease to mild respiratory tract illness to severe pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), multiorgan failure, and death. The efficacy of corticosteroids in viral ARDS remains controversial. Methods: This is an internationally (Spain, Canada, China, USA) designed multicenter, randomized, controlled, open-label clinical trial testing dexamethasone in mechanically ventilated adult patients with established moderate-to-severe ARDS caused by confirmed Covid-19 infection, admitted in a network of Spanish ICUs. Eligible patients will be randomly assigned to receive either dexamethasone plus standard intensive care, or standard intensive care alone. Patients in the dexamethasone group will receive an intravenous dose of 20 mg once daily from day 1 to day 5, followed by 10 mg once daily from day 6 to day 10. The primary outcome is 60-day mortality. The secondary outcome is the number of ventilator-free days at 28 days. All analyses will be done according to the intention-to-treat principle.

Timeline

Start

2020-04-03

Primary completion

2020-06-19

Completion

2020-06-19

Outcome

Outcome not reported

Stopped (Enrollment): “Lack of enrollment”

Publications

• Results Villar J, Belda J, Anon JM, Blanco J, Perez-Mendez L, Ferrando C, Martinez D, Soler JA, Ambros A, Munoz T, Rivas R, Corpas R, Diaz-Dominguez FJ, Soro M, Garcia-Bello MA, Fernandez RL, Kacmarek RM; DEXA-ARDS Network. Evaluating the efficacy of dexamethasone in the treatment of patients with persistent acute respiratory distress syndrome: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial. Trials. 2016 Jul 22;17:342. doi: 10.1186/s13063-016-1456-4.
• Results Villar J, Ferrando C, Martinez D, Ambros A, Munoz T, Soler JA, Aguilar G, Alba F, Gonzalez-Higueras E, Conesa LA, Martin-Rodriguez C, Diaz-Dominguez FJ, Serna-Grande P, Rivas R, Ferreres J, Belda J, Capilla L, Tallet A, Anon JM, Fernandez RL, Gonzalez-Martin JM; dexamethasone in ARDS network. Dexamethasone treatment for the acute respiratory distress syndrome: a multicentre, randomised controlled trial. Lancet Respir Med. 2020 Mar;8(3):267-276. doi: 10.1016/S2213-2600(19)30417-5. Epub 2020 Feb 7.
• Villar J, Anon JM, Ferrando C, Aguilar G, Munoz T, Ferreres J, Ambros A, Aldecoa C, Suarez-Sipmann F, Thorpe KE, Juni P, Slutsky AS; DEXA-COVID19 Network. Efficacy of dexamethasone treatment for patients with the acute respiratory distress syndrome caused by COVID-19: study protocol for a randomized controlled superiority trial. Trials. 2020 Aug 16;21(1):717. doi: 10.1186/s13063-020-04643-1.

Drugs

Indications