Management of COVID-19 patients experiencing persisting respiratory failure despite corticosteroids remains challenging. Data on high-dose intravenous anakinra (HD-ANK) in this context are lacking. We aimed to investigate the impact of HD-ANK on mortality in COVID-19 patients progressing to non-invasive ventilation (NIV) while receiving corticosteroids. We retrospectively analyzed the impact of HD-ANK on 28-day mortality in individuals hospitalized with COVID-19 necessitating NIV after corticosteroid initiation. A total of 256 patients were identified: 146 received standard-of-care only (SOC), and 110 received HD-ANK+SOC. The groups were well-balanced at baseline. In-hospital mortality at 28 days did not differ between the two groups. HD-ANK is not beneficial in patients with severe COVID-19 deteriorating despite corticosteroids.
Keywords: COVID-19; Interleukin 1 receptor antagonist protein; Noninvasive ventilation.
© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.