Safety of corticosteroids in the treatment of acute respiratory disease in children: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Oral corticosteroids are often used to treat acute asthma or asthma caused by respiratory tract infection in adult patients, but the effect of oral corticosteroids in young children is still controversial. We conducted a meta-analysis of controlled clinical studies to examine the effect of oral corticosteroids in children with respiratory diseases. METHODS: Embase, PubMed, Web of Science, Ovid, ClinicalTrials.org from January 2000 to August 2021 were searched for randomized control trials related to the treatment of pediatric respiratory diseases with corticosteroid drugs using the keywords “corticosteroids” and “acute respiratory diseases”. After screening the articles, Revman 5.4 software was used for the analysis. RESULTS: A total of 8 articles (comprising 2,327 patients, 4 kinds of corticosteroids, and 3 types of pediatric respiratory disease) were included in the meta-analysis. The results showed that the length of hospital stay of patients in the experimental group treated with corticosteroids was shorter than that of patients in the control group [mean difference =–2.03, 95% confidence interval (CI): –2.91, –1.14; P<0.00001]. Further, the number and proportion of uncured patients after 3 days of treatment were lower in the experimental group than the control group [odds ratio (OR) =0.55, 95% CI: 0.42, 0.72; P<0.00001]. There were no differences in relation to adverse reactions (OR =0.57, 95% CI: 0.31, 1.07; P=0.08), and the readmission rate between the experimental and control groups (OR =0.94, 95% CI: 0.66, 1.34; P=0.75). DISCUSSION: Corticosteroid use in the treatment of respiratory diseases in children can significantly shorten hospitalization time and increase the cure rate without increasing adverse reactions.