Colchicine can prevent clinical deterioration and decrease the length of stay in hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

This meta-analysis was carried out to examine the impact of colchicine therapy in COVID-19 infected people.

Clinical trial registries and electronic databases were explored to identify eligible randomized controlled trials that compared the clinical outcomes of colchicine and its comparators in COVID-19 patients. This study included ten randomized controlled trials that incorporated 17,976 people suffering from coronavirus disease (9549 people were randomized to the control group and did not receive colchicine therapy, and 8427 people were randomized to the colchicine group).

To calculate the pooled odds ratio (OR) of mortality, meta-analysis was done with the random-effects model. Cohen's d index was used to estimate the pooled standardized mean difference of hospital stay duration amid colchicine users and non-colchicine users.

Colchicine use led to a decrease in the hospital stay duration (pooled standardized mean difference = −0.59). Regarding odds of mortality, no profound differences were noted (pooled OR = 0.76).

To sum up, nod-like receptor pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome may lead to severe illness in COVID-19 patients when hyperactivated. Colchicine is capable to prevent clinical deterioration by inhibiting NLRP3 inflammasome. However, such advantageous effects of colchicine did not translate into mortality benefits in coronavirus-infected people.