Evaluation of the convalescent plasma therapy effectiveness and the factors that influence the therapeutic outcome in hospitalized COVID-19 patients: A retrospective cohort study (original) (raw)

Background: As an effective antiviral therapy is not available for the treatment of the current rapidly and continuously spreading coronavirus disease (COVID-19), it is very crucial to find an alternative treatment strategy. Convalescent plasma (CP) therapy has been used for prevention and treatment of many emerging infectious diseases, however, the results of current studies on CP in COVID-19 are not consistent. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of CP therapy in hospitalized patients with COVID-19, while evaluating patient and donor-related factors that might influence the therapeutic outcome. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study on 312 patients with either severe or critical COVID-19, who were admitted to Al-Hakeem and Al-Amal hospitals in Al-Najaf city, Iraq from June to August 2020. The patients were allocated to either the plasma therapy group (152 patients) who received CP combined with standard therapy or the standard therapy group (160 ...

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