Corticosteroids in COVID-19 ARDS

Corticosteroids, such as hydrocortisone and dexamethasone, have anti-inflammatory, antifibrotic, and vasoconstrictive effects, which intensivists have been trying to leverage for decades to improve outcomes in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and septic shock. In the first description of ARDS in 1967, Ashbaugh and colleagues noted that “corticosteroids appeared to have value in the treatment of patients with fat-embolism and possibly viral pneumonia.”
Source: JAMA - Journal of the American Medical Association - Category: General Medicine Source Type: research