Effect of different doses and time-courses of corticosteroid treatment in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome: A meta-analysis

While previous trials have indicated that the use of corticosteroids for patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is effective, the dosage and time-course for the use of corticosteroids remain a subject of controversy. The present study aimed to address and resolve these problems. PubMed, Embase and the Cochrane Library databases were searched from inception to March 2017 for randomized controlled trials (RCTs), which included patients with ARDS using corticosteroids. Related data were extracted independently by two investigators. The Mantel-Haenszel method was used with random-effects modeling to calculate the pooled odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for the mortality of patients with ARDS, and the risk of new infection arising from the use of glucocorticoids. The inverse variance method was used to calculate the mean difference (MD) and 95% CI for the duration of mechanical-free ventilation and the ratio of arterial oxygen partial pressure to fractional inspired oxygen (PaO(2)/FIO(2) ratio). The use of low-dose corticosteroids significantly reduced the mortality rate of patients with ARDS (OR: 0.43; 95% CI: 0.24–0.79; P=0.006) while the use of high-dose corticosteroids provided no significant benefit to reducing the mortality rate (OR: 1.33; 95% CI: 0.86–2.04; P=0.20). The present study identified that glucocorticoids reduced the mortality rate of patients during the early stages of ARDS (OR: 0.61; 95% CI: 0.43–0.86; P=0.005). Glucocorticoids significantly reduced the duration of mechanical ventilation (MD: 3.08; 95% CI: 1.49–4.68; P<0.05) and significantly improved the PaO(2)/FiO(2) ratio (MD: 66.39; 95% CI: 57.79–74.98; P<0.05). The use of corticosteroids did not significantly increase the rate of infectious complications (OR: 0.60; 95% CI: 0.32–1.12; P>0.05). The use of low-dose corticosteroids may significantly reduce the mortality rate, particularly in the early stages of ARD, shorten the duration of mechanical ventilation and improve the PaO(2)/FiO(2) ratio without increasing the risk of a new infection.