The IDSA have issued 7 recommendations on the treatment and management of COVID-19 patients. These are part of their aim to “develop evidence-based rapid guidelines intended to support patients, clinicians and other health-care professionals in their decisions about treatment and management of [these] patients.”
They recognise the limitations imposed by “the understandable urgency in producing, synthesising and disseminating data during the current pandemic”. In the rush to publish, there has been (1) circumvention of usual research steps (2) limited peer-review process and (3) increased potential for publication bias (in the interest of showing promising data and in the race to achieve recognition).
The recommendations are based on “evidence from the best available clinical studies with patient-important endpoints”. They also discuss trade-offs between “highly uncertain benefits” and “known putative harms”. They cover treatments involving drugs like azithromycin, hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir-ritonavir, corticosteroids and tocilizumab.
Read here (IDSA, March 11, 2020)
