Study type

Study topic

Disease /health condition
Human medicinal product

Study type

Non-interventional study

Scope of the study

Assessment of risk minimisation measure implementation or effectiveness
Disease epidemiology
Drug utilisation

Data collection methods

Secondary data collection
Non-interventional study

Non-interventional study design

Cohort
Study drug and medical condition

Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) code

(H02AB02) dexamethasone
(H02AB04) methylprednisolone
(H02AB06) prednisolone
(H02AB07) prednisone
(H02AB09) hydrocortisone

Medical condition to be studied

SARS-CoV-2 test
Population studied

Short description of the study population

The study population will be comprised of a cohort of diagCOVID-19 or labCOVID-19 patients in the database within the study time period.

Inclusion Criteria
Four cohorts will be created based on healthcare setting and type of steroid use. Their eligibility criteria being described below (using Covid-19 catch)
Ambulatory prevalent user
- Have at least 365 days of continuous observation time prior to cohort entry (COVID-19 diagnosis)
- Have a glucocorticoid (oral or parenteral) exposure in the 3 to 120 days prior to diagnosis date (unrelated to COVID-19 diagnosis)
- Have a positive PCR test for SARS-CoV-2 (labCOVID-19) or a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis (diagCOVID-19)
- Have no hospitalizations in the 30 days prior to or on index

Ambulatory naive user
- Have at least 365 days of continuous observation time prior to cohort entry (COVID-19 diagnosis)
- Have no glucocorticoid (oral or parenteral) exposure in the 3 to 120 days prior to index (unrelated to COVID-19 diagnosis)
- Have a positive PCR test for SARS-CoV-2 (labCOVID-19) or a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis (diagCOVID-19)
- Have no hospitalizations in the 30 days prior to or on index

Hospitalized prevalent user
- Have a glucocorticoid (oral or parenteral) exposure in the 120 days prior to index (unrelated to COVID-19 diagnosis)
- Have a positive PCR test for SARS-CoV-2 (labCOVID-19) or a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis (diagCOVID-19) (index date)
- Diagnosis for COVID-19 during a hospitalisation where the start date of hospitalisation is <30 days before diagnosis or hospitalised within 30 days after diagnosis Have no intensive services in the 30 days prior to or on index

Hospitalized naïve user
- Have no prior exposures to glucocorticoids in the 3 to 120 days prior to index
- Have a positive PCR test for SARS-CoV-2 (labCOVID-19) or a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis (diagCOVID-19)
- Diagnosis for COVID-19 during a hospitalisation where the start date of hospitalisation is <30 days before diagnosis or hospitalised within 30 days after diagnosis Have no intensive services in the 30 days prior to or on index

Exclusion Criteria
Missing age or sex

Age groups

Adults (18 to < 46 years)
Adults (65 to < 75 years)
Adults (75 to < 85 years)
Adults (85 years and over)

Special population of interest

Hepatic impaired
Renal impaired

Estimated number of subjects

153000
Study design details

Main study objective

To describe utilization of systemic glucocorticoids (e.g. dexamethasone, prednisolone, methylprednisolone or hydrocortisone) for treatment of COVID-19 in two settings: hospitalized (in hospital care) and ambulatory (any care received outside of hospital) within 90 days following COVID-19 diagnosis.

Outcomes

Adverse events such as infections, hyperglycaemia, hypertension, GI bleeding, composite of cardiovascular events Disease severity outcomes such as - Hospital admission - Venous thromboembolism (VTE) or pulmonary embolism (PE) - Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) - Death of any cause - Intensive services

Data analysis plan

• Descriptive analysis for systemic glucocorticoid use patterns will be carried and stratified by setting, glucocorticoid exposure type (naive, prevalent) and subgroups of special interest. • Kaplan-Meier methods will be used to estimate time to systemic glucocorticoid initiation from COVID-19 diagnosis, stratified by route of administration (oral vs intravenous). • Cohort-specific descriptive statistics summarizing demographic, health and clinical patient characteristics, stratified by setting, glucocorticoid exposure type glucocorticoid (naive, prevalent), and subgroups of special interest will be presented. • Crude incidence (presented as both proportions and rates) for the relevant outcomes for each of the treatment exposure groups will be calculated. • The cumulative incidence rates will be reported at the end of follow-up (30 and 90 days). • Data will be stratified by setting, glucocorticoid exposure type (naive, prevalent), and subgroups of special interest etc.
Documents
Study results
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Study, other information
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