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Effect of Tocilizumab on “Ventilator Free Days” Composite Outcome in SARS-CoV-2 Patients: A Retrospective Competing Risk Analysis Cover

Effect of Tocilizumab on “Ventilator Free Days” Composite Outcome in SARS-CoV-2 Patients: A Retrospective Competing Risk Analysis

Open Access
|Jan 2023

Figures & Tables

Figure 1

Patients’ and study groups’ flow diagram:Flow diagram of included and excluded patients in the study, and matched groups.
Patients’ and study groups’ flow diagram:Flow diagram of included and excluded patients in the study, and matched groups.

Figure 2

Kaplan Meier survival curve:Survival of patients in both groups up to 28 days, evaluated by Log – Rank test showing significant difference (p = 0.04).
Kaplan Meier survival curve:Survival of patients in both groups up to 28 days, evaluated by Log – Rank test showing significant difference (p = 0.04).

Results of competing risk analysis, and Cox proportional regression:

Sample statistic (95% CI)P value
Competing Risk RegressionSHR: 2.7 (1.2 – 6.3)0.02
Cox Proportional HazardHR: 0.49 (0.25 – 0.97)0.04

Results of secondary outcomes:

TCZ (n=29)Control (n=29)95% CI of differenceP value
ICU mortality (n, %)11 (37.9%)18 (62%)−3.9 to 48.50.1
Actual VFD: median (IQR)10 (0 – 13)0 (0 – 2.25)1.1 – 8.30.02
Positive cultures (n, %)16 (55.2%)10 (34.5%)−7.11 to 45.40.1

Demographic and clinical characteristics of study groups before and after matching:

VariableUnmatched GroupsMatched Groups


TCZ (n=29)No TCZ (n=386)P valueTCZ (n = 29)No-TCZ (n = 29)P value
Age: Median (IQR)59 (52.5 – 60.25)51 (44 – 57)0.000159 (52.5 – 60.25)57 (51.75 – 63.25)0.9
Gender: Male (n, %)21 (72.4%)262 (67.9%)0.621 (72.4%)20 (69%)0.8
SOFA score Median (IQR)4 (4 – 5)3 (4 – 5)0.00014 (4 – 5)4 (4 – 4.25)0.2
BMI Median (IQR)27 (23.3 – 31.2)25.8 (22.6 – 29.4)0.227 (23.3 – 31.2)25.3 (21.85 – 28.63)0.1
Smoking (n, %)10 (34.5%)131 (33.9%)0.910 (34.5%)9 (31%)0.8
Anti-viral (n, %)11 (37.9%)154 (39.9%)0.811 (37.9%)12 (41.4%)0.8
Steroids (n, %)17 (58.6%)245 (63.5%)0.617 (58.6%)16 (55.2%)0.8
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/rjaic-2022-0001 | Journal eISSN: 2502-0307 | Journal ISSN: 2392-7518
Language: English
Page range: 1 - 7
Published on: Jan 14, 2023
Published by: Sciendo
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Publication frequency: 2 issues per year

© 2023 Ahmed F. Mady, Basheer Abdulrahman, Shahzad A. Mumtaz, Mohammed A. Al-Odat, Ahmed Kuhail, Rehab Altoraifi, Rayan Alshae, Abdulrahman M. Alharthy, Dimitrios Karakitsos, Waleed Th. Aletreby, published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.