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Interferon gamma-1b for the prevention of hospital-acquired pneumonia in critically ill patients: a phase 2, placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial

A. Roquilly, B. François, O. Huet, Y. Launey, S. Lasocki, E. Weiss, M. Petrier, Y. Hourmant et al.

Intensive Care Medicine, 2023

109 participants · 41 citations

Abstract

Purpose We aimed to determine whether interferon gamma-1b prevents hospital-acquired pneumonia in mechanically ventilated patients. Methods In a multicenter, placebo-controlled, randomized trial conducted in 11 European hospitals, we randomly assigned critically ill adults, with one or more acute organ failures, under mechanical ventilation to receive interferon gamma-1b (100 µg every 48 h from day 1 to 9) or placebo (following the same regimen). The primary outcome was a composite of hospital-acquired pneumonia or all-cause mortality on day 28. The planned sample size was 200 with interim safety analyses after enrolling 50 and 100 patients. Results The study was discontinued after the second safety analysis for potential harm with interferon gamma-1b, and the follow-up was completed in June 2022. Among 109 randomized patients (median age, 57 (41–66) years; 37 (33.9%) women; all included in France), 108 (99%) completed the trial. Twenty-eight days after inclusion, 26 of 55 participants (47.3%) in the interferon-gamma group and 16 of 53 (30.2%) in the placebo group had hospital-acquired pneumonia or died (adjusted hazard ratio (HR) 1.76, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.94–3.29; P = 0.08). Serious adverse events were reported in 24 of 55 participants (43.6%) in the interferon-gamma group and 17 of 54 (31.5%) in the placebo group ( P = 0.19). In an exploratory analysis, we found that hospital-acquired pneumonia developed in a subgroup of patients with decreased CCL17 response to…

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Evidence Hub reads this as a randomized trial, done in people. Its evidence level is 2 of 5 (High · randomized trial). Randomized trials of a reasonable size are the strongest single-study design. Reported size: 109 participants or records.

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