Ongoing Living Update of Potential COVID-19 Therapeutics: summary of rapid systematic reviews. Rapid Review, 8 May 2020

Abstract

This document updates the earlier version published in April 2020. It includes the results of a rapid systematic review of current available literature. The information included in this review reflects the evidence as of the date posted in the document. Yet, recognizing that there are numerous ongoing clinical studies, PAHO will periodically update these reviews and corresponding recommendations as new evidence becomes available. The ongoing COVID-19 disease pandemic (caused by SARS-Cov 2), with associated mortality and morbidity, has prompted a focus on the efforts to develop vaccines and treatments. While the clinical presentation of COVID-19 ranges from asymptomatic to fulminant and fatal, severe cases of infection can develop pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, sepsis and/or multiple organ failure which are not unique to coronavirus. Pulmonary failure can be considered the principle cause of death related to COVID-19 disease. The current standard treatment guidelines for COVID-19 include pharmaceutical and other supportive care treatments. The focus was any types of comparative effectiveness research (ideally RCT studies) for all of the included therapeutic pharmacological interventions (adults and children) and this review was open to any study that could be informative, including case-series and observational designs. Adults and children exposed to or with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 were and will be included. Trials that compare interventions head-to-head or against no intervention or placebo is the focus. We have focused on comparative effectiveness studies that provide evidence on patient-important outcomes, but were open to all reported outcomes at this time. No electronic database search restrictions were imposed. If meta-analytical pooling was and is possible from retrieved evidence, this review would seek to do this to derive more precise estimates of effect and derive additional statistical power.