RT Journal Article
T1 Impact of early interferon-β treatment on the prognosis of patients with COVID-19 in the first wave: A post hoc analysis from a multicenter cohort.
A1 Salto-Alejandre, Sonsoles
A1 Palacios-Baena, Zaira R
A1 Arribas, José Ramón
A1 Berenguer, Juan
A1 Carratalà, Jordi
A1 Jarrín, Inmaculada
A1 Ryan, Pablo
A1 Miguel-Montero, Marta de
A1 Rodríguez-Baño, Jesús
A1 Pachón, Jerónimo
A1 COVID-19@Spain Study Group, 
K1 COVID-19
K1 Interferon-β
K1 Mortality
K1 SARS-CoV-2
K1 Treatment
AB Interferon-β is an attractive drug for repurposing and use in the treatment of COVID-19, based on its in vitro antiviral activity and the encouraging results from clinical trials. The aim of this study was to analyze the impact of early interferon-β treatment in patients admitted with COVID-19 during the first wave of the pandemic. This post hoc analysis of a COVID-19@Spain multicenter cohort included 3808 consecutive adult patients hospitalized with COVID-19 from 1 January to 17 March 2020. The primary endpoint was 30-day all-cause mortality, and the main exposure of interest was subcutaneous administration of interferon-β, defined as early if started ≤ 3 days from admission. Multivariate logistic and Cox regression analyses were conducted to identify the associations of different variables with receiving early interferon-β therapy and to assess its impact on 30-day mortality. A propensity score was calculated and used to both control for confounders and perform a matched cohort analysis. Overall, 683 patients (17.9%) received early interferon-β therapy. These patients were more severely ill. Adjusted HR for mortality with early interferon-β was 1.03 (95% CI, 0.82-1.30) in the overall cohort, 0.96 (0.82-1.13) in the PS-matched subcohort, and 0.89 (0.60-1.32) when interferon-β treatment was analyzed as a time-dependent variable. In this multicenter cohort of admitted COVID-19 patients, receiving early interferon-β therapy after hospital admission did not show an association with lower mortality. Whether interferon-β might be useful in the earlier stages of the disease or specific subgroups of patients requires further research.
YR 2021
FD 2021-12-22
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10668/22040
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10668/22040
LA en
DS RISalud
RD Apr 5, 2025