Comparative effectiveness and safety of antiviral agents for patients with COVID-19: Protocol for a systematic review and individual-patient data network meta-analysis

PLoS One. 2020 Nov 9;15(11):e0241947. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0241947. eCollection 2020.

Abstract

Background: A recent cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan, China, has been caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). We propose the protocol described below to perform an individual-patient data (IPD) network meta-analysis (NMA) in order to evaluate the efficacies of different antiviral drugs to treat patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Materials and methods: We will search the Medline, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, SinoMed, CNKI and VIP databases from their inceptions through July 2020. There will be no restrictions on language, publication year, or publication type. Randomized clinical trials (RCTs) and prospective cohort studies with antiviral treatments for COVID-19 will be considered. Two reviewers will independently select studies and collect data. Risk-of-bias assessments will be completed using the Cochrane risk-of-bias scale. Primary outcome will be the COVID-19 recovery rate. We will combine aggregated data from IPD with the NMA in a single model, compare the effects of different antiviral drugs on patient-relevant efficacy, and rank the results to decide which is the most effective.

Trial registration: PROSPERO registration number: CRD42020167038.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Systematic Review

MeSH terms

  • Antiviral Agents / therapeutic use*
  • Betacoronavirus / isolation & purification
  • COVID-19
  • Coronavirus Infections / drug therapy*
  • Coronavirus Infections / mortality
  • Coronavirus Infections / pathology
  • Coronavirus Infections / virology
  • Databases, Factual
  • Humans
  • Network Meta-Analysis
  • Pandemics
  • Pneumonia, Viral / drug therapy*
  • Pneumonia, Viral / mortality
  • Pneumonia, Viral / pathology
  • Pneumonia, Viral / virology
  • Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
  • Risk
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • Treatment Outcome

Substances

  • Antiviral Agents

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of the Tibet Autonomous Region, Tibet Natural Science Foundation, Medical Assistance Tibet Projects of Special Funds (XZ2019ZR-ZY15(Z)). None of the funders had any role in the study design. The researchers confirm their independence from funders and sponsors.