Dosage and utilization of dexamethasone in the management of COVID-19: A critical review

Table 1 Study characteristics of all included studies

Ref.	Study design	Country	Disease severity	Low-dose dexamethasone regimen	High-dose dexamethasone regimen	Outcomes studied
Bouadma et al[12] (2022)	Randomized multicenter trial	France	Hypoxemia	6 mg daily for 10 days	20 mg on days 1-5, then 10 mg from days 6-10	Invasive mechanical vent at 28 days, mortality at 60 days
Maskin et al[6] (2022)	Randomized multicenter trial	Argentina	Patients with ARDS	6 mg daily for 10 days	16 mg on days 1-5, then 8 mg from days 6-10	Ventilator-free days at 28 days, mortality at 28 and 90 days, infection muscle weakness, hyperglycemia
Granholm et al[13] (2021)	Randomized multicenter trial	Denmark, India, Sweden, Switzerland	Oxygen at least 10 L per minute, NIV or IMV	6 mg daily for 10 days	12 mg daily for 10 days	Days alive without IMV, circulatory support, renal replacement at 28 days, mortality at 28 and 90 days
Rabascall et al[14] (2022)	Randomized multicenter trial	United States	Patients with hypoxemia sats < 94%	6 mg daily	0.2 mg/kg	Invasive mechanical vent at 28 days, mortality at 28 days
Recovery Collaborative group[7] (2023)	Randomized multicenter trial	Asia, United Kingdom, and Africa	Patients with COVID-19 with simple Oxygen	6 mg daily for 10 days	20 mg on days 1-5, then 10 mg from days 6-10	Invasive mechanical vent at 28 days, mortality at 28 days
Taboada et al[11] (2022)	Randomized multicenter trial	Spain	Hypoxemia requiring Oxygen	6mg daily for 10 days	20 mg on days 1-5, then 10 mg from days 6-10	Clinically worsening in 11 days. mortality at 28 days, IMV requirement, mortality at 60 days
Toroghi et al[8] (2022)	Randomized multicenter trial	Iran	Hypoxemia requiring Oxygen	8 mg daily for 10 days	Intermediate dose: 8 mg BID for 10 days High dose: 8 mg TID for 10 days	Need for mechanical ventilation, 60 days mortality
Wu et al[9] (2022)	Randomized single-center trial	United States	Hypoxemia requiring Oxygen	6 mg daily for 10 days	20 mg on days 1-5, then 10 mg from days 6-10	Clinical improvement on day 28, mortality at 28 days
Sadeghi et al[15] (2023)	Randomized multicenter trial	Iran	Hypoxemia requiring Oxygen	8 mg daily for 7 days	24 mg daily for 3 days, then 8 mg daily for 4 days	Mortality at 1 month

BID: Twice per day; IMV: Intermittent mechanical ventilation; NIV: Noninvasive ventilation; ARDS: Adult respiratory distress syndrome; COVID-19: Coronavirus disease 2019.