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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Med.
Sec. Pulmonary Medicine
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1445809
This article is part of the Research Topic Targeting Cellular Signalling Pathways for Disease Therapy: The Potential of Cellular Reprogramming and Protein Kinase Inhibitors View all 6 articles

Baricitinib treatment for hospitalized patients with severe COVID-19 on invasive mechanical ventilation：a propensity score-matched and retrospective analysis

Provisionally accepted
Yanxiong Mao Yanxiong Mao 1Anyi Guo Anyi Guo 1Ying Zhang Ying Zhang 2Jianxing Lai Jianxing Lai 1Dian Yuan Dian Yuan 1Hao Zhang Hao Zhang 1Wenqi Diao Wenqi Diao 1Weisong Chen Weisong Chen 3Fugui Yan Fugui Yan 1*
  • 1 Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease of Zhejiang Province, Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
  • 2 Department of Scientific Research, Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
  • 3 Department of Respiratory,Jinhua Municipal Central Hospital, Jinhua,Zhejiang, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Introduction: Baricitinib is a selective inhibitor of Janus kinase (JAK)1 and JAK2, which is associated with clinical improvement in non-severe COVID-19 patients. But in severe COVID-19 patients, the effectiveness of baricitinib is still controversial.Methods: A propensity score-matched and retrospective study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of baricitinib in severe COVID-19 patients requiring invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV).Results: A total number of 48 patients treated with baricitinib were included, and 48 patients were assigned to control group by propensity score matching. The mean ages were high in both group (baricitinib group vs control group: 78.80±9.04 vs 82.57±9.27), and most were unvaccinated (62.5% vs 66.7%. Baricitinib group had a higher proportion of patients with hypertension (73.9% vs 45.5%, p=0.006). Control group had higher level of creatine kinase-myocardial band (247.50 vs 104.50, p=0.021). Patients in the baricitinib group were more likely to receive nirmatrelvir/ritonavir (39.6% vs 16.7%, p=0.017) and intravenous immunoglobin (14.6% vs 0, p=0.007). Baricitinib group had significantly lower all-cause 28-days mortality than control group (72.9% vs 89.6%, p=0.004).The present study revealed baricitinib reduced 28-days mortality in severe COVID-19 patients on IMV. The effectiveness of baricitinib in treating patients with severe COVID-19 on IMV needs to be further investigated through future studies.

    Keywords: COVID-19, Baricitinib, Mortality, Propensity score matching, Invasive mechanical ventilation

    Received: 08 Jun 2024; Accepted: 07 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Mao, Guo, Zhang, Lai, Yuan, Zhang, Diao, Chen and Yan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Fugui Yan, Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease of Zhejiang Province, Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China

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