Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Sep 25;16(1):21.
doi: 10.1186/s41479-024-00146-8.

Outcomes of corticosteroid therapy in patients with viral community-acquired pneumonia

Catia Cilloniz  1   2 , Amedeo Guzzardella  3   4 , Davide Calabretta  1   3   5 , Albert Gabarrus  1 , Maria Angeles Marcos  6   7   8 , Antoni Torres  9   10
Affiliations

Outcomes of corticosteroid therapy in patients with viral community-acquired pneumonia

Catia Cilloniz et al. Pneumonia (Nathan). .

Abstract

Aim: The objective of this study was to assess the therapeutic effects of corticosteroids in adult patients hospitalized with viral community-acquired pneumonia.

Methods: This is a retrospective analysis of data collected prospectively from November 1996 to June 2024. All adult patients with viral community-acquired pneumonia were enrolled. The primary outcome was 30-day mortality. Secondary outcomes included all-cause in-hospital mortality, ICU admission, length of ICU and hospital stay, mechanical ventilation, and 1-year mortality. Propensity score matching (PSM) was used to obtain balance among the baseline variables in the two groups.

Results: Of the 524 patients with viral pneumonia, 30 (6%) received corticosteroids and 494 (94%) did not. Patients were primarily male (n = 299, 57%), with a median [Q1-Q3] age of 66.9 [55-81] years. The 3:1 propensity matching procedure identified 90 patients not treated with corticosteroid (CS-) as controls. After PSM, no difference in 30-day mortality was found [7% (95%CI 1 to 22%) vs. 4% (95%CI 1 to 11%), p = 0.639]. The risk of death at 30 days did not differ significantly in unmatched and matched cohorts [Hazard Ratio (HR) 1.33 (0.32-5.63), p = 0.695 vs. HR 1.51 (0.28-8.27), p = 0.632, respectively]. Nor were differences found in hospital length of stay, ICU admission and length of stay, or mechanical ventilation requirement and duration between matched and unmatched CS + and CS-.

Conclusions: There were no significant differences in the primary and secondary outcomes regarding the use of corticosteroids in patients with viral pneumonia.

Keywords: Community-acquired pneumonia; Corticosteroids; Viral pneumonia; Virus.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

References

    1. Gao CA, Pickens CI, Morales-Nebreda L, Wunderink RG. Clinical features of COVID-19 and differentiation from other causes of CAP. Semin Respir Crit Care Med. 2023;44:8–20. - PubMed
    1. WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19). Dashboard. https://covid19.who.int. Accessed 11 Apr 2023.
    1. Torres A, Cilloniz C, Niederman MS, Menéndez R, Chalmers JD, Wunderink RG, et al. Pneumonia Nat Rev Dis Primers. 2021;7:25. - PubMed
    1. Torres A, Lee N, Cilloniz C, Vila J, Van der Eerden M. Laboratory diagnosis of pneumonia in the molecular age. Eur Respir J. 2016;48:1764–78. - PubMed
    1. Cilloniz C, Luna CM, Hurtado JC, Marcos MÁ, Torres A. Respiratory viruses: their importance and lessons learned from COVID-19. Eur Respir Rev. 2022;31:220051. - PMC - PubMed