The Effect of Tocilizumab on the outcome of patients with severe COVID-19 with cytokine storm syndrome in a sample of Iraqi patients.

Objective: To determine whether tocilizumab improved outcomes of patients hospitalised with severe coronavirus disease-2019 cytokine storm syndrome.

Methods: The case-control study was conducted at Al-Yarmouk Teaching Hospital, Baghdad, and Al Shatra General Hospital, Thi Qar, Iraq, from September 2020 to March 2021, and comprised patients with severe acquired respiratory syndrome-corona virus-2 pneumonia who were not candidates for mechanical ventilation and received a single-dose intravenous infusion of tocilizumab 8mg/kg in group A. The outcomes were compared with patients in group B who received only standard care.