Hydrocortisone, a steroid, increases the chances of survival in severe cases of Covid-19 and speeds their recovery. The United Kingdom will use this anti-inflammatory to treat severe patients.
- The use of this steroid makes it possible to overcome the problem of drug stocks.
- Hydrocortisone can reduce the risk of death by about 20% in patients with a severe form.
- It should not be used for prevention or to treat the less severe forms.
Steroids continue to prove their effectiveness in treating Covid-19. After the recommendation of their use by the World Health Organization (WHO), a British study showed the effectiveness of hydrocortisone, a family of steroids, in reducing deaths in patients with severe forms of Covid. -19 and “speed up healing“For these people, advances Anthony Gordon, researcher at Imperial College London, head of the British team participating in this international study, to AFP. The results of this study were published on September 2 in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
20% reduction in mortality risk
Hydrocortisone is added to other steroids that have proven their effectiveness in treating severe forms of the disease. Inexpensive, it reduces the risk of death in these patients by approximately 20%. Her “main utility”, believes Anthony Gordon, is to complete the care offer to treat patients, in addition to dexamethasone in particular, and to compensate for the “drug inventory problem”. The director general of the British health service (NHS), Simon Stevens, praised “additional weapon in the arsenal of the global fight against Covid-19“, in one communicated.
The researchers tested seven different steroids on 403 patients with severe forms of the virus to study their effectiveness. Conducted in 88 UK hospitals, they demonstrated the effectiveness of hydrocortisone, which would save around 1 in 12 patients.”For patients who were not treated with this steroid, about 40% of them died from a severe form of Covid-19described Anthony Gordon. In the group we gave this steroid to, only 32% of them died.” A gap that is equivalent to a reduction of “20% mortality risk”.
Pay attention to its use
As with other steroids used to treat severe cases, hydrocortisone should not be used haphazardly. “It is not a treatment that can be used at home to prevent coronavirus or to treat mild symptoms.”, warned Simon Stevens. In patients who have developed less severe forms, the use of this steroid, as with others, can weaken it.
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