A recent systematic review on the subject concluded that for hospitalized adults with CAP, systemic CS may reduce mortality by about ~3% (primarily in severe CAP), mechanical ventilation need by ~5%, and hospital stay by ~1 day (1). But determining who might benefit the most and at what CS dosage regimen without undue risk of side effects (e.g. hyperglycemia) may be tricky.
A randomized control trial of patients with CAP on prednisone 50 mg daily x 7d (vs placebo) showed a significant shorter time to clinical stability (3 vs 4.4 d) and higher in-hospital hyperglycemia in the CS group (2).; this study was not powered to detect significant difference in mortality, however. Less treatment failure with adjunctive CS but without impact on mortality was recently reported in a small study involving patients with serum CRP >150 mg/L (i.e. high inflammatory state) (3).
Fortunately, a multicenter trial (ESCAPe, Extended Steroid in CAP) is currently underway. In the meantime, before considering CS, we need to be confident of the diagnosis and severity of CAP, its potential adverse effects in individual patients, and the appropriateness of the antibiotic (s) on board.
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References
1. Siemieniuk RAC, Meade MO, Alonso-Coello P, et al. Corticosteroid therapy for patients hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Ann Intern Med 2015;165:519-528. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26258555
2. Blum CA, Nigro N, Briel M. Adjunct prednisone therapy for patients with community-acquired pneumonia: a multi-centre, double-blind randomized, placebo-controlled trial. Lancet 2015;385:1511-1518. http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(14)62447-8/abstract
3. Torres A, Sibila O, Ferrer M, et al. Effect of corticosteroids on treatment failure among hospitalized patients with severe community-acquired pneumonia and high inflammatory response: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA 2015;313:677-86. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25688779
