Preadmission use of inhaled corticosteroids and risk of fatal or severe COVID-19: A meta-analysis.

Kow, Chia Siang; Hasan, Syed Shahzad

With accumulation of evidence currently, we aimed to perform a meta-analysis to summarize the overall effect of the chronic use of inhaled corticosteroids on the clinical outcomes in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Systematic literature search in electronic databases was performed to identify studies that investigated the preadmission use of inhaled corticosteroids on the risk of a fatal or severe course of illness in patients with COVID-19 and reported adjusted measures of association. Adjusted odds ratios or relative risks and the corresponding 95% confidence intervals from each study were pooled to produce pooled odds ratio and 95% confidence interval. The meta-analysis revealed no significant difference in the risk for the development of a fatal course of COVID-19 with preadmission use of inhaled corticosteroids in patients with COVID-19 relative to non-use of inhaled corticosteroids (pooled odds ratio =1.28; 95% confidence interval 0.73-2.26). Similarly, the meta-analysis observed no significant difference in the risk for the development of a severe course of COVID-19 with preadmission use of inhaled corticosteroids in patients with COVID-19 relative to non-use of inhaled corticosteroids (pooled odds ratio =1.45; 95% confidence interval 0.96-2.20).