<p>Chennai<strong>: </strong>The geographic location of a patient may have had an effect on how well higher doses of steroids (dexamethasone) worked on patients with severe Covid-19 infection, a secondary analysis of Covid-Steroid 2 trial has revealed.</p><p>The study led by Dr. Bharath Kumar Tirupakuzhi Vijayaraghavan from The George Institute for Global Health India and Apollo Hospital, Chennai has been published in The Lancet Regional Health - Southeast Asia.</p><p>The original Covid-Steroid 2 trial and the current sub-study are a collaboration between The George Institute for Global Health, India and Danish investigators based at CRIC. This study was conducted in Europe and India to examine the effects of giving patients injectable 12 mg versus 6 mg of dexamethasone every day for a maximum of 10 days.</p><p>The study said the doctors noted that baseline variables were largely comparable among treatment arms across areas and noticed some significant variations between the two areas, though, such as India's lower weight and its higher use of antivirals and other therapies, also the higher proportion of patients with diabetes in India.</p><p>The research that explores how patients in India and Europe respond differently to higher doses of dexamethasone not only emphasizes the value of international collaboration in large-scale clinical trials related to COVID but also provides a useful way to generate data demonstrating variations in COVID research across various global populations, the doctors said.</p><p>On mortality rates, the doctors found that patients in Europe and India had differing death rates at various time points. On day 28, the higher-dose group's risk of death was 8.3% lower for patients in Europe, whereas there was essentially no difference (0.1%) in India. Comparable patterns were noted on days 90 and 180, the study said.</p><p>Regarding serious adverse reactions (SARs), while a larger percentage (-1.0%) of patients in Europe experienced SARs, fewer patients in India suffered SARs at the higher dose (-5.3%).</p><p>The study also revealed variations in the number of days patients survived at day 90 without requiring life support between Europe and India as patients in India experienced 1.7 more days without life support, compared to 6.1 more days for those in Europe.</p><p>Variations in patient characteristics, healthcare infrastructure, resource availability, and comorbidity profiles may be the cause of the regional disparities in treatment effects, the doctors said, adding that the observed discrepancies could be explained by variables including different levels of healthcare-associated infections, a higher incidence of diabetes, and the use of other anti-inflammatory medications such IL-6 inhibitors.</p>
<p>Chennai<strong>: </strong>The geographic location of a patient may have had an effect on how well higher doses of steroids (dexamethasone) worked on patients with severe Covid-19 infection, a secondary analysis of Covid-Steroid 2 trial has revealed.</p><p>The study led by Dr. Bharath Kumar Tirupakuzhi Vijayaraghavan from The George Institute for Global Health India and Apollo Hospital, Chennai has been published in The Lancet Regional Health - Southeast Asia.</p><p>The original Covid-Steroid 2 trial and the current sub-study are a collaboration between The George Institute for Global Health, India and Danish investigators based at CRIC. This study was conducted in Europe and India to examine the effects of giving patients injectable 12 mg versus 6 mg of dexamethasone every day for a maximum of 10 days.</p><p>The study said the doctors noted that baseline variables were largely comparable among treatment arms across areas and noticed some significant variations between the two areas, though, such as India's lower weight and its higher use of antivirals and other therapies, also the higher proportion of patients with diabetes in India.</p><p>The research that explores how patients in India and Europe respond differently to higher doses of dexamethasone not only emphasizes the value of international collaboration in large-scale clinical trials related to COVID but also provides a useful way to generate data demonstrating variations in COVID research across various global populations, the doctors said.</p><p>On mortality rates, the doctors found that patients in Europe and India had differing death rates at various time points. On day 28, the higher-dose group's risk of death was 8.3% lower for patients in Europe, whereas there was essentially no difference (0.1%) in India. Comparable patterns were noted on days 90 and 180, the study said.</p><p>Regarding serious adverse reactions (SARs), while a larger percentage (-1.0%) of patients in Europe experienced SARs, fewer patients in India suffered SARs at the higher dose (-5.3%).</p><p>The study also revealed variations in the number of days patients survived at day 90 without requiring life support between Europe and India as patients in India experienced 1.7 more days without life support, compared to 6.1 more days for those in Europe.</p><p>Variations in patient characteristics, healthcare infrastructure, resource availability, and comorbidity profiles may be the cause of the regional disparities in treatment effects, the doctors said, adding that the observed discrepancies could be explained by variables including different levels of healthcare-associated infections, a higher incidence of diabetes, and the use of other anti-inflammatory medications such IL-6 inhibitors.</p>