Corticosteroids Probably Cut Short-Term Mortality in Severe Pneumonia, ARDS

THURSDAY, Dec. 4, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Adjunct corticosteroids probably reduce short-term mortality in adults with severe pneumonia or acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), according to a review published online Dec. 2 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Alice Soumare, M.D., from Hôpital La Pitie Salpêtrière in Paris, and colleagues examined the effects of corticosteroids on mortality and infection-related complications in adults with severe pneumonia or ARDS in a review of randomized controlled trials. The review included 20 studies (15 severe pneumonia and five ARDS), with 3,459 participants.

The researchers found that in severe pneumonia and ARDS, low-dose, short-course corticosteroids likely reduce short-term mortality (15 and five studies: risk ratios, 0.73 and 0.77, respectively). In severe pneumonia, corticosteroids may reduce secondary shock (nine studies: risk ratio, 0.49). Corticosteroids probably result in little to no difference in hospital-acquired infections (severe pneumonia and ARDS) or in secondary pneumonia. For catheter-related and bloodstream infections, evidence was very uncertain, and for severe pneumonia, long-term mortality evidence was also very uncertain.

“In both conditions, corticosteroids may have little or no effect on hospital-acquired infections,” the authors write. “Optimal timing, dosing strategies, and patient selection require further investigation.”

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