1. Tocilizumab for the Critically Ill With Severe COVID-19: A Community Hospital Case Series
- Author
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Samuel Akinyele, Julin Mathew, Megan Anderson, Malarvizhi Narayanan, Matthew McKenzie, Alison T Vo, and Yeunju Michelle Lee
- Subjects
Adult ,Male ,2019-20 coronavirus outbreak ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) ,Critical Illness ,Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) ,Hospitals, Community ,Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized ,03 medical and health sciences ,chemistry.chemical_compound ,0302 clinical medicine ,Tocilizumab ,medicine ,Humans ,Pharmacology (medical) ,030212 general & internal medicine ,Intensive care medicine ,Retrospective Studies ,030304 developmental biology ,0303 health sciences ,Interleukin-6 ,SARS-CoV-2 ,Critically ill ,business.industry ,Middle Aged ,medicine.disease ,Respiration, Artificial ,Community hospital ,COVID-19 Drug Treatment ,Cytokine release syndrome ,Pneumonia ,chemistry ,Female ,business - Abstract
Objective: To evaluate the use of tocilizumab in a community hospital setting for critically ill patients with severe COVID-19. Design: A retrospective case series Setting: Five community hospitals within 1 urban health system Patients: Adult patients whom received tocilizumab between March 27th, 2020 to April 30th, 2020 for severe COVID-19. Interventions: None. Measurements and Main Results Sixteen patients in total were evaluated from the 5 community hospitals. The mean (± SD) age of the patients was 53.9 ± 9.2 years, 56% were men, and the most common comorbidities present on admission were hypertension (31%) and diabetes mellitus (25%). All patients received at least 1 other treatment modality for COVID-19 (steroids, hydroxychloroquine, or convaslescent plasma). Additionally, all patients on admission to intensive care units had severe COVID-19 with 56% requiring mechanical ventilation with a pre-tocilizumab median (IQR) Pao2: Fio2 of 84 (69 – 108.6), 19% requiring vasopressor support, and inflammatory markers (CRP, LDH, ferritin, and IL-6) were elevated. The median (IQR) tocilizumab dose was 400 mg (400-600) which correlated with a weight-based mean (± SD) dose of 5.4 mg/kg ± 1.3. Of the 16 patients that received tocilizumab, 8 (50%) were discharged home, 7 (44%) died, and 1 (6%) was still hospitalized at the end of data collection. Patients who died were more likely to be older 62 ± 2 years, female (57%), had a higher rate of mechanical ventilation (86%) and vasopressors (43%) use at baseline, and had a higher median (IQR) IL-6 level prior to tocilizumab administration 550 pg/mL (IQR 83-1924). There were no reported adverse drug reactions reported after the administration of tocilizumab for any patient. Conclusions: Our findings do not support the effectiveness of tocilizumab in treatment of severe COVID-19 infection in critically ill patients.
- Published
- 2021
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