Discordances were resolved by a 3rd reviewer. Two investigators independently reviewed the identified abstracts and selected articles for full reviewing. Inclusion dates were 1st January 2020 to 6th March 2021. We searched on PubMed, Web of Science and Medline with search terms using the Boolean operators including coronavirus OR COVID-19 OR 2019-nCoV OR SARS-CoV-2 AND ruxolitinib OR baricitinib OR Janus kinase OR JAK. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis focused on effects of JAK-inhibitors on diverse outcomes in persons with SARS-CoV-2-infection and/or COVID-19. However, these data are not consistently reported. Timing of JAK-inhibitor treatment during the course of COVID-19 treatment may be important in determining impact on outcome. JAK-inhibitors did not decrease length of hospitalization (mean difference (MD) –0.18 P = 0.94). Use of JAK-inhibitors decreased use of invasive mechanical ventilation (RR = 0.63 P = 0.002) and had borderline impact on rates of intensive care unit (ICU) admission (RR = 0.24 P = 0.05) and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS RR = 0.50 P = 0.16). We identified 6 cohort studies and 5 clinical trials involving 2367 subjects treated with ruxolitinib ( N = 3) or baricitinib 45 ( N = 8).

We used disease severity as a proxy for time when JAK-inhibitor therapy was started. We analyzed reports on safety and efficacy of JAK-inhibitors in patients with coronavirus infectious disease-2019 (COVID-19) published between January 1st and March 6th 2021 using the Newcastle-Ottawa and Jadad scales for quality assessment.

Jak 2