Oxford University Press, The Journal of Infectious Diseases, 6(224), p. 967-975, 2021
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AbstractBackgroundEarly convalescent plasma transfusion may reduce mortality in patients with nonsevere coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).MethodsThis study emulates a (hypothetical) target trial using observational data from a cohort of US veterans admitted to a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) facility between 1 May and 17 November 2020 with nonsevere COVID-19. The intervention was convalescent plasma initiated within 2 days of eligibility. Thirty-day mortality was compared using cumulative incidence curves, risk differences, and hazard ratios estimated from pooled logistic models with inverse probability weighting to adjust for confounding.ResultsOf 11 269 eligible person-trials contributed by 4755 patients, 402 trials were assigned to the convalescent plasma group. Forty and 671 deaths occurred within the plasma and nonplasma groups, respectively. The estimated 30-day mortality risk was 6.5% (95% confidence interval [CI], 4.0%–9.7%) in the plasma group and 6.2% (95% CI, 5.6%–7.0%) in the nonplasma group. The associated risk difference was 0.30% (95% CI, −2.30% to 3.60%) and the hazard ratio was 1.04 (95% CI, .64–1.62).ConclusionsOur target trial emulation estimated no meaningful differences in 30-day mortality between nonsevere COVID-19 patients treated and untreated with convalescent plasma.Clinical Trials Registration. NCT04545047.