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. 2015;6(3):172-8.
doi: 10.5847/wjem.j.1920-8642.2015.03.002.

Efficacy and safety of glucocorticoids in the treatment of community-acquired pneumonia: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Li-Ping Chen  1 , Jun-Hui Chen  2 , Ying Chen  1 , Chao Wu  1 , Xiao-Hong Yang  1
Affiliations

Efficacy and safety of glucocorticoids in the treatment of community-acquired pneumonia: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Li-Ping Chen et al. World J Emerg Med. 2015.

Abstract

Background: Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is pneumonia acquired infectiously from normal social contact as opposed to being acquired during hospitalization. CAP is a leading cause of illness and death. This review aims to determine the efficacy and safety of glucocorticoids in the treatment of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP).

Data sources: We searched randomized controlled trials (RCTs) from Pubmed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Chinese Journal Full-text Database, and Chinese Biomedical Literature Database to obtain the information by using steroids, glucocorticoids, cortisol, corticosteroids, community-acquired pneumonia and CAP as key words. The quality of RCTs was evaluated. A Meta-analysis was made using RevMan 5.0 provided by the Cochrance Collaboration.

Results: Seven RCTs involving 944 patients were included in the meta-analysis. The mean length of hospital stay in glucocorticoids treatment group was significantly shorter than that in standard treatment group (WMD=-1.70, 95%CI 2.01-1.39, Z=10.81, P<0.00001). No statistically significant differences were found in the mortality rate (RR=0.77,95%CI 0.46-1.27, Z=1.03, P=0.30), the mean length of hospital stay in ICU (WMD=1.17, 95%CI 1.68-4.02, Z=0.81, P=0.42), the incidence of super infection (RR=1.32, 95%CI 0.66-2.63, Z=0.79, P=0.43), the incidence of hyperglycemia (RR=1.84, 95%CI 0.76-4.41, Z=1.36, P=0.17), the incidence of upper gastrointestinal bleeding (RR=1.98, 95%CI 0.37-10.59, Z=0.80, P=0.42) between the standard treatment group and the glucocorticoids treatment group.

Conclusions: The use of glucocorticoids in patients with community-acquired pneumonia can significantly shorten the duration of illness and have a favorable safety profile. However, it could not reduce the overall mortality.

Keywords: Community-acquired pneumonia; Glucocorticoids; Meta-analysis.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of interest: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest relevant to the content of the article.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Comparison of mortality between the GCS treatment group and standard treatment group.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Comparison of the mean length of hospital stay in the two groups.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Comparison of the mean length of hospital stay at ICU in the two groups.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Comparison of the incidence of super infection in the two groups.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Comparison of the incidence of hyperglycemia in the two groups.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Comparison of the incidence of upper gastrointestinal bleeding in the two groups.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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