The effect of convalescent plasma on the treatment of COVID-19 patients in Ardabil, Iran

Iranijam, Effat; Ghobadi, Hassan; Matin, Somaieh; Habibzadeh, Shahram; Zandian, Hamed; Mohammadshahi, Jafar; Fooladi, Shahnaz; Dargahi, Abdollah; Safarzadeh, Elham; Negaresh, Mohammad; Hosseini, Javad; Samadi, Ali Hossein; Hoseininia, Saeed; Salehzadeh, Hossein; Dezhkam, Sharareh

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Infection with COVID-19 has resulted in considerable mortality all around the world. This study aimed to investigate the effect of convalescent plasma on the treatment of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 in Imam Khomeini Hospital at Ardabil, Iran. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this quasi-experimental clinical trial, patients over 18 years of age with polymerase chain reaction-positive COVID-19 were admitted based on the clinical criteria of respiratory distress with hypoxia (O 2 saturation <90) and tachypnea (R Relative Risk (RR) >24) with moderate-to-severe lung involvement and in the 1 st week of respiratory disease who were not intubated were nonrandomly assigned to two groups: convalescent plasma therapy (CPT) group (197 cases) and control group (200 cases). We used the Chi-square, t-test, Fisher's exact test, and Pearson's correlation coefficient for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Analyses revealed that length of stay in hospital was significantly lower in the CPT group as compared to the control group (P = 0.001). Twenty-four cases (22.0%) in the CPT group and 85 cases (78.0%) in the control group needed intubation. Furthermore, mortality was 17 cases (18.3%) in the CPT group and 76 cases (81.7%) in the control group, the difference of which was also found to be statistically significant (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: It seems that CPT can be used as an alternative treatment at the early stages of COVID-19 to prevent the progress of the disease, reduce the need for intubation and consequently the length of stay in hospital, and finally, decrease mortality.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Sep 28, 2021
• Publication Date: Aug 22, 2022
• Deposit Date: Apr 4, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 5, 2023
• Journal: Journal of Education and Health Promotion
• Print ISSN: 2277-9531
• Electronic ISSN: 2319-6440
• Publisher: Medknow Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 11
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 266
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4103/jehp.jehp_1439_21
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/10608731
• Publisher URL: https://www.jehp.net//article.asp?issn=2277-9531;year=2022;volume=11;issue=1;spage=266;epage=266;aulast=Iranijam