COVID-19 Mortality and Remdesivir - A Retrospective Cohort in Intensive Care Setting

Remdesivir is a broad-spectrum antiviral drug that received emergency use authorization in the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, its effectiveness in preventing mortality in COVID-19 patients who required intensive care was unclear.

We retrospectively analyzed clinical data of 302 patients from intensive care units of a quaternary care center with moderate to severe COVID-19 illness and followed them until discharge between March 2020 and February 2021. Participants who received at least five doses of Remdesivir were compared against participants who received standard care. The primary outcome was all-cause mortality. Secondary outcomes included invasive mechanical ventilation, clinical worsening, and intensive care stay.

Remdesivir use was not associated with all-cause mortality in this cohort (age and sex-adjusted OR = 0.76, 95% CI 0.4 -1.5, p = 0.409). However, when stratified for clinical severity and steroid use, Remdesivir demonstrated a strong negative association with all-cause mortality in severely ill patients (OR 0.3, 95% CI 0.1 - 0.6, p = 0.003) or when used along with intravenous Methylprednisolone (Infusion/Bolus, OR 0.2/0.3, 95% CI 0.1 - 0.9 p = 0.06). Remdesivir use was not significantly associated with invasive mechanical ventilation or clinical worsening but with prolonged ICU stay.

While Remdesivir use may not affect all-cause mortality in moderate to severely ill COVID-19 ICU patients, it may still benefit severely ill patients or when used with intravenous steroids. However, the limitations of the present study necessitate a randomized controlled trial to test this combined intervention strategy.