A systematic review and meta-analysis of the safety of anti-interleukin therapy in COVID-19

ABSTRACT

Objective. To evaluate safety of anti-interleukin drugs used as a pathogenetic therapy of COVID-19 as assessed by risks of infectious complications. Materials and methods. A systematic review of publications related to safety assessment of anti-interleukin drugs recommended as pathogenetic therapy in COVID-19 patients in terms of incidence of serious adverse events and adverse events of “Infections and Invasions” class and a meta-analysis of the data were performed. Results. The meta-analysis included 16 randomized and 3 non-randomized studies. The hazard ratio of serious adverse events between the comparison groups was 0.93 [95% CI 0.85;1.01] (p = 0.1), the hazard ratio of adverse event of “Infections and Invasions” class was 0.9 [95% CI 0.8;1.02] (p = 0.09), showing no differences in the incidence of those events. Conclusions. This meta-analysis did not demonstrate statistically significant differences in the relative risks of serious adverse events and adverse events of “Infections and Invasions” class for the use of anti-interleukin drugs in COVID-19 patients. © 2022, Interregional Association for Clinical Microbiology and Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. All rights reserved.