N Engl J Med

Do inhaled glucocorticoids shorten the recovery time from COVID-19?

September 22, 2023

The randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled ACTIV-6 trial of 1,407 non-hospitalized adults with confirmed mild-to-moderate COVID-19 demonstrated that inhaled glucocorticoids did not shorten recovery time.

• 715 adults were randomly assigned to receive inhaled fluticasone furoate at a dose of 200 μg/day for 14 days; the remaining 692 received a placebo. Of those participants, 656 and 621, respectively, were included in the analysis.
• There was no evidence that the use of fluticasone furoate resulted in a shorter time to recovery than placebo (hazard ratio, 1.01; 95% credible interval, 0.91-1.12).
• A total of 24 participants (3.7%) in the fluticasone furoate group had urgent care or emergency department visits or were hospitalized, as compared with 13 participants (2.1%) in the placebo group (hazard ratio, 1.9; 95% credible interval, 0.8 to 3.5).
• Three participants in each group were hospitalized, and no deaths occurred; adverse events were uncommon in both groups.

Source:

Boulware DR; ACTIV-6 Study Group and Investigators; et al. (2023, Sep 21). N Engl J Med. Inhaled Fluticasone Furoate for Outpatient Treatment of Covid-19. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37733308/