As per new results from the ARDS Clinical Research Network of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of the National Institutes of Health, corticosteroids do not improve survival rate in patients suffering from last-stage ARDS (acute respiratory distress syndrome).

ARDS is a sudden and life-threatening lung condition affecting more than 150,000 people yearly in the United States alone and tend to develop in patients suffering from diseases such as pneumonia or sepsis or major injuries resulting in breathing failure.

From News-Medical.Net:

There is no specific drug treatment for ARDS. The focus of care is to get enough oxygen into the blood until the lungs are functioning again. Patients are placed in the intensive care unit and supported with mechanical ventilators and fluids. Some patients recover and can breathe on their own within a week or so. Others might need to be on mechanical support to help with breathing for longer periods of time, but they can develop long-term complications from ventilator use or other treatments.

Because ARDS is related to inflammation in the lung, steroids are sometimes used in the hopes of helping the lungs heal. Earlier small or observational studies have suggested that moderate doses of steroids given 7 or more days after the onset of ARDS might improve lung function and increase survival. But a larger randomized clinical trial – considered the gold standard in medical research – was needed to determine whether moderate doses of steroids are beneficial for patients with late-stage ARDS.

Some early benefits to steroid treatment were noted by the involved researchers and these benefits appeared to minimize inflammation in the lungs. In addition to that, the use of steroids does not lead to more secondary infections - a common side effect of steroids.

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Tags: acute respiratory distress syndrome, ARDS, corticosteroids, pneumonia, steroids

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