Efficacy of Systemic and Inhaled Corticosteroid Therapy for Patients with Community-Acquired Pneumonia: An Evidence-Based Case Report
Author(s):
Fahreza Akbar Siregar and Gurmeet Singh
Background: Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is one of the top leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. CAP also becomes the sixth most prevalent cause of overall mortality in adults. Corticosteroids are known to be the most potent anti-inflammatory drugs and have physiologic rationale for their use in patients with infection. Its efficacy in the treatment of CAP is still debatable.
Objective: This study aims to evaluate the efficacy and clinical outcomes of systemic and inhaled steroid therapy for patients with community-acquired pneumonia.
Methods: We used four databases for literature searching process, Pubmed, EBSCO, ProQuest, and Science Direct, which selected articles are those therapeutic studies with relevant clinical question and met the inclusion-exclusion criteria. Critical appraisal was performed by assessed its validity, importance, and applicability based on Oxford Center of Evidenced-Based Medicine 2011.
Results: Three retrieved articles feature cohort studies. Two studies conducted systemic steroid therapy research which other conducted inhaled steroid. Two of three articles show steroid therapy was associated with lower mortality and shorter clinical stability.
Conclusion: We suggested that steroid therapy, both systemic and inhaled steroids help hasten clinical recovery, prevent pneumoniarelated complication, lower mortality, and reduction in the duration of mechanical ventilation and length of hospital stay