Hamilton – Annals of Internal Medicine published a new study that demonstrates the benefits of corticosteroid on patients with Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). Results show that for hospitalized adults with CAP the treatment can reduce, hospital stay by approximately 1 day, need for mechanical ventilation by approximately 5 percent and mortality by approximately 3 percent.
The findings are very promising for the future of millions of patients. This lung infection usually makes you cough, run a fever, feel chest pain and have a hard time breathing. The disease on regular people takes up to 2 – 3 weeks of recovery. But for seniors, babies and people with other diseases can become lethal.
Bacteria or viruses tend to causes pneumonia. It starts when you breathe the germs and get them into your lungs, so it is easier to contract the disease after having a cold or the flu, due these kinds of illnesses make it hard for your lungs to fight infection. Pneumonia is one of the most common serious medical conditions related to the respiratory system.
Since the infection is so common, today’s reports happens to be very important for the welfare of people. Not only reduces death but also the need for mechanical ventilation by 5 percent. The risk of developing Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) was cut by 6.2 percent.
Researchers analyzed data from 13 clinical trials, with more than 2,000 patients of pneumonia. They found out that the ones treated with corticosteroids drugs that include medicine such as cortisone, left the hospital sooner than those who didn’t receive these types of drug.
“Our study should lead to an important change in treatment for pneumonia.” said Dr. Reed, a physician and graduate student at McMaster University. “Corticosteroids are inexpensive and readily available around the world. Millions of patients will benefit from this new evidence.”
In spite of these findings Dr. Bruce Polsky, an expert from the department of medicine at Winthrop-University Hospital said “With such modest though measurable effects of treatment, a large multi-center randomized clinical trial,” would still be necessary to confirm the new findings and “perhaps justify a change in the standard of care.”
Source: Annals of Internal Medicine