Convalescent plasma therapy in COVID-19 and discharge status: a systematic review

Objective: Covid19 has emerged as a greatest threat of the decade worldwide. At present there is no certain treatment for treating coronavirus diseases, while some antiviral drugs (Remdesivir, Lopinavir and Ritonavir) are under investigation. Many countries including India have adopted the convalescent plasma therapy in the treatment of moderate to severely ill patients. Despite the treatment being given, there are no such evidences on the utility and efficacy of convalescent plasma. Hence this study tries to find out the impact on the discharge status from hospital of the patients receiving the very therapy. Design: Systematic review and meta analysis. Setting: An extensive search was made, following PRISMA guidelines on online databases such as Pubmed, Google scholar and Science direct. Studies those fulfilled the inclusion and exclusion criteria, were included and reviewed and analyzed for a common outcome(discharge status). Participants: A total of 6 eligible studies were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively which included three case control, two case series and one case report.