First Report of Tocilizumab Use in a Cohort of Latin American Patients Hospitalized for Severe COVID-19 Pneumonia

  1. Omar Valenzuela
  2. Sebastián Ibáñez
  3. M. Cecilia Poli
  4. Patricia Roessler
  5. Mabel Aylwin
  6. Gigia Roizen
  7. Mirentxu Iruretagoyena
  8. Vivianne Agar
  9. Javiera Donoso
  10. Margarita Fierro
  11. José Montes

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Abstract

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  1. Version published to 10.3389/fmed.2020.596916
  2. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2020.08.12.20173104: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Institutional Review Board StatementIRB: Institutional Review Board: The Scientific Ethics Committee of the Clínica Alemana-Universidad del Desarrollo medicine faculty approved the study prior to data collection.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    Statistical methods: The data was analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics for Mac OS, Version 24.0.
    SPSS
    suggested: (SPSS, RRID:SCR_002865)

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:
    Our study has several limitations. It is an observational study without control group. It represents a small number of patients from a single center. In the analysis of the results, it was not possible to have some data in all the patients. This report may not capture adverse events that may occur in the long term. Our study is relevant because it represents the experience of a Latin American country, with a population poorly represented in other series. In addition, we provide more information to assist in choosing the best “window of opportunity” for tocilizumab use, specially the work of a multidisciplinary team that evaluated each patient in detail. Our team analyzed the pathophysiological rationality and the accumulated evidence and established criteria to consider the use of tocilizumab that considered the presence of an uncontrolled inflammatory response. Even when the patients met the established criteria, there was a group discussion weighing the risks and possible benefits before suggesting the use of the drug. Furthermore, we describe the use of tocilizumab together with high doses of CS, we detail the infections, adverse events, and deaths, and we analyze the variables associated with a better hospital stay. The provided data is useful to improve patient selection, trying to minimize risks and optimize efficacy. Our study suggests the utility and shows the safety of tocilizumab use in COVID-19 patients who have respiratory failure and evidence of CRS. Lymphocyte i...

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    About SciScore

    SciScore is an automated tool that is designed to assist expert reviewers by finding and presenting formulaic information scattered throughout a paper in a standard, easy to digest format. SciScore checks for the presence and correctness of RRIDs (research resource identifiers), and for rigor criteria such as sex and investigator blinding. For details on the theoretical underpinning of rigor criteria and the tools shown here, including references cited, please follow this link.

  3. Version published to 10.1101/2020.08.12.20173104 on medRxiv