Development of Evidence-Based COVID-19 Management Guidelines for Local Context: The Methodological Challenges

Table 5

Description of study characteristics: quasiexperimental studies.

S. no.	Trial registration number	Author, country	Title	Study duration in days	Study arm	Intervention group	Control group	Concomitant interventions	Outcome measures	Outcome measures applicable to this review
1	NCT04374071	Fadel et al., United States	Early short-course corticosteroids in hospitalized	8	2	Corticosteroid methylprednisolone 0.5–1 mg/kg/day divided in 2 intravenous doses for 3 days	(i) Standard care; (ii) Lopinavir-ritonavir; (iii) Ribavirin; (iv) Hydroxychloroquine; (v) Steroid	(i) Lopinavir-ribavirin; (ii) Hydroxychloroquine; (iii) Tocilizumab; (iv) Methylprednisolone; (v) Oral prednisone	(i) Death; (ii) Respiratory failure requiring mechanical ventilation.; (iii) Overall mechanical ventilation; (iv) Length of stay	(i) Death; (ii) Respiratory failure requiring mechanical ventilation.; (iii) Overall mechanical ventilation; (iv) Length of stay
2	NCT04374071	Fatima et al., Pakistan	Comparison of efficacy of dexamethasone and methylprednisolone in moderate to severe COVID-19 disease.	30	2	Intravenous methylprednisolone 1 mg/kg/day in 2 divided	Intravenous dexamethasone 8 mg/day given for 5 days	(i) Plasma therapy; (ii) Antibiotics; (iii) Tocilizumab	(i) Mortality; (ii) ICU transfer; (iii) Ventilator needed	(i) Mortality; (ii) ICU transfer; (iii) Ventilator needed
3	NCT4357106	Olivares-Gazca et al., Mexico	Infusion of convalescent plasma is associated with clinical improvement in critically ill patients with COVID-19: A pilot study	22	1	Convalescent plasma	—	—	Mortality	Mortality
4	2020-000890-25	Philippe Gautret et al., France	Hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin as a treatment of COVID-19: results of an open-label nonrandomized clinical trial	—	2	Hydroxychloroquine 200 mg, 3 times per day for 10 days	No hydroxychloroquine	(i) Azithromycin 500 mg on day 1 and 250 mg per day for the next four days (hydroxychloroquine-treated patients); (ii) Combination of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin	(i) Virological clearance at day 6; (ii) Virological clearance over the time; (iii) Occurrence of side effects	(i) Virological clearance at day 6; (ii) Virological clearance over the time; (iii) Occurrence of side effects