Corticosteroids for community-acquired pneumonia: time to act!

Djillali Annane¹ and G Umberto Meduri²

¹Service de réanimation, hôpital Raymond Poincaré (AP-HP), Université de Versailles SQY (UniverSud Paris), 104 boulevard Raymond Poincaré, 92380 Garches, France

²University of Tennessee Health Science Center and Memphis Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine, 956 Court Avenue, Room H316, Memphis, TN 38163, USA

author email corresponding author email

Critical Care 2008, 12:166doi:10.1186/cc6940


Published:	14 July 2008

See related research by Salluh et al., http://ccforum.com/content/12/3/R76

Abstract

The use of corticosteroids for the treatment of community-acquired pneumonia has been reported for almost 50 years. A recent systematic analysis of the relevant literature suggested that corticosteroids reduce the critical illness associated with community-acquired pneumonia. There is little doubt that a prolonged administration of a moderate dose of corticosteroids may alleviate the systemic inflammatory response and subsequent organ dysfunction in severe infection. Whether these favorable effects on morbidity may translate into better survival and quality of life needs to be addressed in additional adequately powered randomized controlled trials.