Effectiveness of the use of dexamethasone in treatment of coronavirus infections: A systematic review

Abstract

BACKGROUND: WHO declared the coronavirus disease (COVID)-19 outbreaks as a worldwide pandemic in March 2020. More than 1,500,000 confirmed cases have been diagnosed in more than 130 countries and regions, estimated to cause 93,000 deaths so far recorded on April 10, 2020. There is no vaccine or antiviral treatment for coronavirus. METHODS: The literature sources from the research were obtained by searching for national and international journals. The journal is indexed in Google Scholar, PubMed, Science Direct, e-books, and others. Five journals were obtained, including a literature review, systematic review, and randomized controlled trials (RCT) discussing the use of dexamethasone in COVID-19 therapy, Middle East respiratory syndrome, and severe acute respiratory syndrome. RESULTS: A study from Oxford University compared 2100 COVID-19 patients who received low and moderate potential dexamethasone at a dose of 6 mg/day for 10 days with 4300 COVID-19 patients who only received standard treatment for coronavirus infection. The results obtained in patients using ventilator mortality decreased from 40% to 28%, and patients using oxygen, the mortality rate decreased from 40% to 20%. The dexamethasone RCT study can reduce the death rate of 1 in 3 COVID-19 patients who received mechanical ventilation therapy and 1 in 5 patients who received oxygen therapy without mechanical ventilation but did not reduce patients’ mortality rate who did not receive therapy oxygen. CONCLUSION: The use of dexamethasone with oxygen therapy and mechanical ventilation can reduce mortality patients with COVID-19.