Introduction: Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a common and potentially serious disease. In recent years, control of the inflammatory response has begun to be taken into account as a new therapeutic target. This study has aimed to analyze the influence of the administration of systemic corticosteroids on mortality of patients admitted with CAP in the common clinical practice.
Patients and methods: A prospective observational study was carried out. The study included patients with CAP admitted to Internal Medicine and Pulmonology services of a tertiary hospital in 2007. Treatment given during admission was recorded and mortality during hospitalization and at 30 and 90 days after discharge was determined.
Results: A total of 257 patients, 179 men (69.6%) and 78 women (30.4%) were analyzed. Mean age was 72±15 years. Both in-hospital mortality as well as at 30 days of discharge was 10.2%, while overall mortality at 90 days was 14.8%. No relation was found between the use of corticosteroids and mortality. Use of corticosteroids also did not modify the length of hospital stay or readmission rate.
Conclusions: It was observed in this study that treatment with corticosteroids in CAP is not associated with lower mortality and does not affect the rate of readmissions. It also does not change the length of hospital stay.
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