ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a global health emergency, with well over six hundred million infections and over six million deaths to date. Besides other ramifications, it is also associated with inflammation and an augmented risk of thromboembolic complications. Despite this, the risks and benefits of antithrombotic drugs in patients with mild to moderate COVID-19 have not been well-established and remain controversial. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of antithrombotic drugs on mild to moderate symptomatic COVID-19 patients by performing an updated systematic review and meta-analysis. METHODS: We queried electronic databases (PubMed, Cochrane Central, Scopus, and Embase) from their inception up to September 2022 for randomized controlled trials comparing antithrombotic drugs against placebo. The outcomes of interest were the need for hospital care, mortality, and thromboembolic events in the enrolled participants. Dichotomous outcomes were presented as risk ratio (RR) with 95 % confidence intervals (CIs) and were consolidated using random-effects model. MAIN RESULTS: Five eligible studies (Rivaroxaban/Apixaban, two; enoxaparin, two; Sulodexide, one), consisting of 2,005 participants with mild to moderate COVID-19, were included. Pooled results show that antithrombotics, when compared to placebo, do not significantly reduce all-cause mortality (RR 0.51, 95 % CI 0.15-1.68; P = 0.27; I2 = 0), thromboembolic events (RR 0.78, 95 % CI 0.17-3.51; P = 0.74; I2 = 0), need for hospitalization (RR 0.73, 95 % CI 0.51-1.03; P = 0.08; I2 = 0), nor significantly increase clinically relevant non-major bleeding events (RR 2.36, 95 % CI 0.56-9.89; P = 0.24; I2 = 0). However, when Sulodexide was compared independently to other antithrombotics, it significantly reduced the need for hospitalization (RR 0.60, 95 % CI 0.37-0.95; P = 0.03). CONCLUSIONS: Our pooled analysis was not able to establish statistically significant benefits or risks of using antithrombotic drugs in mild to moderate COVID-19 patients. To further improve our understanding of the efficacy, safety and risk profile of such a therapy, large sample randomized clinical trials are required on a wide scale.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Outpatients , Humans , Fibrinolytic Agents/adverse effects , Hospitalization , InflammationABSTRACT
Background: Glaucoma is a leading cause of irreversible blindness globally and for decades, Molteno and Ahmed glaucoma implants, operating on different mechanisms, have been used to treat complicated glaucoma with varying success. Objective: To assess the safety and efficacy of the Molteno glaucoma implant (MGI) versus the Ahmed glaucoma valve (AGV) in patients with complicated glaucoma. Methods: We comprehensively searched PubMed, Google Scholar, Cochrane Library and Science Direct) from inception till July 2023 and studies comparing patients with MGI and those with AGV in patients with complicated glaucoma. The primary outcome was intra-ocular pressure reduction at different time intervals. Secondary outcomes included surgical success rate, hypertensive phase, anti-glaucoma medication (AGM) and total complications. Results: In this meta-analysis, four studies were included with a patient population of 257 with refractory, neovascular or advanced uncontrolled glaucoma. Postoperative intra-ocular pressure reduction did not show significant difference between the two groups (MD: -1.34, 95% CI [-2.78, 0.09]). From the secondary outcomes, surgical success rate (RR: 0.88, 95% CI [0.51,1.53]), hypertensive phase (RR: 0.74, 95% CI [0.39,1.40]) were insignificant. Postoperative anti-glaucoma medication (MD: -0.07, 95% CI [-0.79, -0.65] and total complications (RR:1.36, 95% CI [1.07, 1.72]) were significant. Conclusion: No significant difference was observed between the patients with MGI and AGV for the primary outcome. From the secondary outcome, AGV was associated with reduced anti-glaucoma medication use and significantly lowered the number of complications. Systematic review registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=475539, identifier CRD42023475539.
