Use of corticosteroids as part of COVID-19 pneumonia treatment.

Abstract

Background: Pneumonia is the most frequent manifestation in patients with severe SARS-CoV-2 infection, and one of the main causes of death.

Objective: To analyze the available evidence and outline the recommendations for the use of corticosteroids in patients with severe pneumonia due to SARS-CoV-2 infection, suggested regimens, and therapeutic efficacy in terms of mortality.

Materials and Methods: It was carried out an advance research considering the following: Medline, EMBASE, Pubmed and Google Scholar. The most used terms were: “COVID-19”, “Severe COVID-19”, “Corticosteroids”, “Dexametasone”, “Methylprednisolone”, “Hydrocortisone”, “Prednisone”, “Treatment”, “Treatment Outcomes”, “Use”, “Route of Administration”, “Mechanical Ventilation”, which were included with the connectors “AND” y “OR”. The result was 38 articles that had the appropriate criterion.

Results and conclusions: The findings evaluated in the present study have demonstrated the benefit of the use of corticosteroids for the treatment of COVID-19 in patients with severe disease and requiring ventilatory support, with dexamethasone being the drug of choice, supported mainly by the results of the RECOVERY study and the REACT initiative, based on which the World Health Organization approved and recommended its use in clinical patients