Covid-19 living Data

Pharmacologic treatments for covid-19 patients

Interferon Beta vs Standard care/Placebo

This comparison will not be updated. Last search date 14 Dec, 2022

Hospitalized patients

Forest plots
(last update: 2021-06-18)

Summary of findings
(last update: 2022-09-27)

Patient or population: COVID-19 patients
Setting: Worldwide
Intervention: Interferon Beta
Comparison: Standard care/Placebo

Outcome	Relative effect (95% CI)	Absolute effect (95% CI)¹		Certainty of the Evidence (GRADE)
Clinical improvement D28	Outcome not yet measured or reported			Two studies were identified that measured this outcome, but no results were reported.
Clinical improvement D60	Outcome not yet measured or reported
WHO progression score (level 7 or above) D28	RR: 0.46 (0.24 - 0.9)	138 fewer per 1000 (from 194 fewer to 26 fewer)		Very low certainty Reasons to downgrade Risk of bias: Serious Risk of bias downgraded by 1 level: some concerns regarding adequate randomization, deviation from intended intervention, selection of reported results and high risk regarding missing data Inconsistency: Not serious Indirectness: Serious Indirectness downgraded by 1 level: studies from a single country, therefore results in this population might not be generalizable to other settings Imprecision: Very serious due to very wide confidence interval consistent with the possibility for benefit and the possibility for harm
2 trials Davoudi-Monfared E, 2020; Rahmani H, 2020 172 participants		Interferon Beta 118 per 1,000 (61 - 230)	Standard care/Placebo 256 per 1,000
WHO progression score (level 7 or above) D60	Outcome not yet measured or reported
All-cause mortality D28	RR: 0.67 (0.38 - 1.18)	38 fewer per 1000 (from 71 fewer to 21 more)		Very low certainty Reasons to downgrade Risk of bias: Serious some concerns regarding adequate randomization, deviation from intended intervention and selection of reported results, and high risk regarding missing data Inconsistency: Serious I²=66% Indirectness: Not serious Imprecision: Very serious due to very wide confidence interval consistent with the possibility for benefit and the possibility for harm
4 trials Davoudi-Monfared E, 2020; Rahmani H, 2020; Pan H, SOLIDARITY, 2020; Darazam IA, COVIFERON, 2021 4359 participants		Interferon Beta 77 per 1,000 (43 - 135)	Standard care/Placebo 114 per 1,000	1 additional study was identified that assessed this outcome, but no results were reported.
All-cause mortality D60	Outcome not yet measured or reported
Viral negative conversion D7	Outcome not yet measured or reported
Adverse events	Outcome not yet measured or reported			Three studies were identified that measured this outcome, but no results were reported.
Serious adverse events	Outcome not yet measured or reported			One study was identified that measured this outcome, but no results were reported.

¹The risk in the intervention group (and its 95% confidence interval) is based on the assumed risk in the comparison group and the relative effect of the intervention (and its 95% CI)

CI: Confidence interval; RR: Risk ratio

GRADE Working Group grades of evidence
High certainty: We are very confident that the true effect lies close to that of the estimate of the effect
Moderate certainty: We are moderately confident in the effect estimate: The true effect is likely to be close to the estimate of the effect, but there is a possibility that it is substantially different
Low certainty: Our confidence in the effect estimate is limited: The true effect may be substantially different from the estimate of the effect
Very low certainty: We have very little confidence in the effect estimate: The true effect is likely to be substantially different from the estimate of effect

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Permanent URL for this comparison: https://covid-nma.com/living_data/index.php?comparison=26

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Trial	Funding	Comparisons		Design	Participants	Sample size	Overall risk of bias Highest assessment	Full description
		Treatment 1	Treatment 2
NCT04343768 COVIFERON Darazam IA, Scientific Reports, 2021 Full text Commentary Commentary	No specific funding	Interferon beta-1b Interferon beta-1a Interferon beta-1b Interferon beta-1b	Standard care Standard care Interferon beta-1a Standard care	RCT	Patients with confirmed COVID-19 (moderate-severe) admitted to a single center in Iran.	N=60	Some concerns Details	Full description
ISRCTN83971151; NCT04315948 SOLIDARITY (IFN) Pan H, N Engl J Med, 2020 Full text Full text Commentary	Mixed	Interferon beta-1a	Standard care	RCT	Patients with COVID-19 (mild-critical) admitted to 405 centers in 30 countries.	N=4127	Low Details	Full description
IRCT20100228003449N27 Rahmani H, Int Immunopharmacol, 2020 Full text Commentary	Public/non profit	Interferon beta-1b	Standard care	RCT	Patients with confirmed COVID-19 (moderate-severe) admitted to a single center in Iran	N=80	Some concerns Details	Full description
IRCT20100228003449N28 Davoudi-Monfared E, Antimicrob Agents Ch, 2020 Full text Commentary	drug donation only	Interferon beta-1a	Standard care	RCT	Patients with COVID-19 (moderate to critical) admitted to a single center in Iran.	N=92	High Details	Full description