#Plasma from recovered #COVID19 patients with high levels of #antibodies appeared to delay / stop progression of illness in mildly ill older adults infected with #SARSCoV2, a study published in @NEJM concluded. 🧵nejm.org/doi/full/10.10… 
Researchers at Fundacion INFANT in Buenos Aires, #Argentina, led the small randomized, controlled, double-blind #clinicaltrial of the effects of infusing #convalescent #plasma in 160 older adults within 72 hours of symptom onset, half of whom received the treatment.
The patients were either 75 years and older with or without underlying illnesses, or 65 to 74 years with at least one underlying condition. The trial was stopped early because #COVID19 cases substantially declined in #BuenosAires, precluding continued recruitment.
Of the 80 patients in the intention-to-treat population given #convalescent #plasma, 13 (16%) developed severe #COVID19, 25 of 80 (31%) given a placebo (relative risk [RR], 0.52; RR reduction, 48%). 2 in the convalescent plasma group (2.5%), 4 in the placebo group (5%) died.
Modified intention-to-treat analysis (excluding 6 who developed severe illness before #plasma / placebo infusion) showed a larger intervention effect (RR, 0.40), efficacy of 60%. 9 of 76 patients (12%) in the plasma group; 23 of 78 (29%) in the placebo group became severely ill.
No #immunoglobulin G (IgG) correlate of protection was found between mild & severe #COVID19 cases but researchers saw a dose-dependent effect for IgG concentrations in plasma bags. Donors with higher-than-the-median #antibody levels demonstrated a relative risk reduction of 73.3%
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
