{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,12]],"date-time":"2025-10-12T01:23:32Z","timestamp":1760232212744,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":27,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"11","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,10,26]],"date-time":"2022-10-26T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1666742400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Vaccines"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: Dexamethasone is used to treat cancer, relieve chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, enhance cancer patients\u2019 appetites, and treat COVID-19 patients. There is little evidence of the impact of a dexamethasone treatment plan on the severity of COVID-19 infections in cancer patients. This study explores whether dexamethasone treatment plan influences the severity of COVID-19 in dexamethasone-treated cancer patients. Methods: The medical records of 108 cancer patients receiving dexamethasone at King Hussein Cancer Center with a COVID-19 infection and 343 without corticosteroid treatment were reviewed. Patients on dexamethasone within seven days before infection, after infection, or both were included. Ventilation support, hospitalization, and mortality within 28 days of a COVID-19 diagnosis were key severity factors. Results: We found that dexamethasone before a COVID-19 infection increased the risk of requiring ventilation assistance and mortality within 28 days by a factor of 5.8 (2.8\u201312.0) relative to control (p &lt; 0.005). Continuing dexamethasone treatment after a COVID-19 infection, or starting it after infection, had a risk factor equivalent to control. Conclusion: Our data showed that dexamethasone therapy protocol affected COVID-19 prognoses in cancer patients, and it is preferable to not discontinue therapy after infection. A rigorous prospective comparison between early and late dexamethasone dosing is needed to determine the best protocol for treatment.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/vaccines10111798","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,10,26]],"date-time":"2022-10-26T11:53:51Z","timestamp":1666785231000},"page":"1798","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["The Effect of Dexamethasone Treatment on COVID-19 Prognosis in Cancer Patients"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"10","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3310-8857","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lina","family":"Souan","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, King Hussein Cancer Center, Amman 11941, Jordan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Zienab","family":"Al-Khairy","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, King Hussein Cancer Center, Amman 11941, Jordan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Maysaa\u2019 Adnan","family":"Al-Binni","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Clinical Laboratory Science, The University of Jordan, Amman 11942, Jordan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Abdelkader","family":"Battah","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Forensic Medicine, School of Medicine, The University of Jordan, Amman 11942, Jordan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9185-9616","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Maher A.","family":"Sughayer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, King Hussein Cancer Center, Amman 11941, Jordan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,10,26]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"11","article-title":"The origin, transmission and clinical therapies on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak\u2014An update on the status","volume":"7","author":"Guo","year":"2020","journal-title":"Mil. 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