Plasma therapy appears to reduce symptoms, however, according to the researchers. (Representative)
New Delhi:
Convalescent plasma therapy, which uses blood from recovered COVID-19 patients as a potential treatment, has shown limited effect in reducing progression to serious illness or death in a trial in India, scientists say.
The study, published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), involved 464 adults with moderate COVID-19 who were admitted to hospitals in India between April and July.
As many as 239 adult patients received two convalescent plasma transfusions, 24 hours apart, alongside standard care, while the control group of 229 patients received standard care only.
One month later, 44 patients, or 19% of those who received the plasma, progressed to serious illness or died from any cause, compared to 41 patients or 18% in the control group.
Plasma therapy, however, appears to reduce symptoms, such as shortness of breath and fatigue, after seven days, according to researchers, including those from the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) and the National Institute of Epidemiology of Tamil Nadu.
“Convalescent plasma was not associated with reduced progression to severe COVID-19 or all-cause mortality,” the researchers wrote in the review.
“This trial has high generalizability and comes close to using convalescent plasma in real settings with limited laboratory capacity,” they said.
The researchers noted that prior measurement of neutralizing antibody titers in donors and participants could further clarify the role of convalescent plasma in the management of COVID-19.
The patients in the study were at least 18 years old and had confirmed COVID-19 based on an RT-PCR result for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the disease.
Participants in the intervention arm received two 200 milliliter (mL) doses of convalescent plasma, transfused 24 hours apart, in addition to the best standard of care.
Although previously conducted observational studies suggested clinical benefits in recovering plasma recipients, trials were terminated prematurely and failed to determine the mortality benefits of plasma treatment in patients with COVID- 19, the researchers said.
The new study shows that in settings with limited laboratory capacity, convalescent plasma does not reduce 28-day mortality or progression to serious illness in hospitalized patients with moderate COVID-19, they said.
Although plasma treatment has been associated with earlier resolution of shortness of breath and fatigue and higher negative conversion of SARS-CoV-2 RNA on day 7 of recruitment, as a potential treatment for patients with moderate COVID-19, it has shown limited effectiveness.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
