ObjectiveTo systematically review the clinical efficacy and safety of glucocorticoids, acetaminophen and antimicrobial drugs in the treatment of intrapartum fever in labor analgesia. MethodsThe PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, CBM, VIP, and CNKI databases were electronically searched to collect randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of glucocorticoids, acetaminophen, and antimicrobial drugs for intrapartum fever in labor analgesia from inception to June 30, 2023. Two reviewers independently screened the literature, extracted data, and evaluated the risk of bias of the included literature. Meta-analysis was then performed by using RevMan 5.4 software. ResultsA total of 10 RCTs involving 1 337 women were included. Meta-analysis showed that the use of glucocorticoids reduced the incidence of intrapartum fever in women with labor analgesia compared with the control group (OR=0.52, 95%CI 0.33 to 0.82, P<0.01). But there was no statistically significant difference between acetaminophen or antimicrobial drugs and the control group. ConclusionCurrent evidence shows that the use of glucocorticoids can reduce the incidence of intrapartum fever in labor analgesia, but the use of acetaminophen and antimicrobial drugs cannot reduce the incidence of intrapartum fever. Due to the limited quality and quantity of the included studies, more high quality studies are needed to verify the above conclusion.
ObjectiveTo systematically review the efficacy of preoperative corticosteroids use as an adjunctive treatment for rhegmatogenous retinal detachment associated with choroidal detachment (RRDCD). MethodsA evidence-based medicine study. The National Library of Medicine's PubMed, Web of Science, CNKI, and WanFang database were searched. Clinical controlled studies were selected the study object was RRDCD patients and the interventions were preoperative corticosteroids used as an adjunctive treatment. The search was conducted from January 2000 to January 2022. Duplicated, incomplete, or irrelevant articles were excluded. The conventional meta-analysis was used to evaluate the efficacy of corticosteroids used before surgery. The network meta-analysis was used to directly or indirectly compare the efficacy of oral corticosteroids or intravenous dexamethasone, peribulbar injection of glucocorticoids, prednisolone acetate eye-drops, intravitreal injection of triamcinolone acetonide (TA) and posterior sub-tenon injection of triamcinolone acetonide. Publication bias was evaluated by funnel plot. ResultsAccording to the search strategy, 43 articles were initially retrieved, and 929 eyes of 13 articles were finally included for analysis; 6 and 10 articles were included in the traditional meta-analysis and the network meta-analysis. Among the 6 studies included in the conventional meta-analysis, 5 studies were retrospective and 1 study was a randomized controlled trial, involving a total of 575 eyes. The analysis results showed that there was no significant difference in the primary retinal reattachment rate between the corticosteroids group and the control group [odds ratio (OR)= 1.53, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.67-3.53, P=0.314]. Among the 10 studies included in the network meta-analysis, 7 studies were retrospective trials, 2 studies were randomized controlled trials, and 1 study was prospective trial, involving a total of 575 eyes. The analysis results showed that there were significant differences in the primary retinal reattachment rate between the triamcinolone acetonide intravitreal injection group and the no corticosteroid treatment group (OR=4.09, 95%CI 1.06-15.79). Sub-tenon injection triamcinolone acetonide had a higher incidence rate of ocular hypertension than oral glucocorticoid or intravenous dexamethasone (OR= 4.47, 95%CI 1.42-14.13). ConclusionsTriamcinolone acetonide intravitreal injection before surgery can improve the primary retinal reattachment rate in RRDCD patients. Patients with the posterior sub-tenon injection of triamcinolone acetonide should be alert to elevated intraocular pressure.
Objective
To evaluate the methodological and reporting quality of systematic reviews/meta-analyses related to the efficacy and safety of corticosteroid-assisted treatment for severe pneumonia.
Methods
PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, WanFang Data and VIP databases were searched by computer, and the systematic reviews/meta-analyses of corticosteroid hormone as an auxiliary means for the treatment of severe pneumonia which were published from establishment of the databases to October 25th, 2018 were searched. A Measurement Tool to Assess Systematic Review-2 (AMSTAR-2) was used to assess the methodological quality of the included studies, and Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) was used to evaluate the quality of literature reports.
Results
A total of 16 systematic reviews/meta-analyses were included, all of which were non-Cochrane systematic reviews. In terms of methodological quality assessed by AMSTAR-2, there was no plan in all studies; only one study explained the reasons for inclusion in the study type; eight studies did not describe the dose and follow-up time of the intervention/control measures in detail; three studies did not indicate the evaluation tools and did not describe the risk bias; six studies did not explicitly examine publication bias. In terms of reporting quality assessed by PRISMA, all studies had no pre-registered study protocol or registration number; thirteen studies did not describe the specific amount of articles retrieved from each database; three studies did not present their retrieval strategies or excluded reasons in detail; no funding sources were identified in included studies; eight studies reported both whether the study was funded and whether there was a conflict of interest.
Conclusions
At present, there are many systematic review/meta-analysis studies on the efficacy and safety of corticosteroid-assisted treatment for severe pneumonia, and the overall quality of the study has been gradually improved. However, the common problems in the study are relatively prominent. The follow-up period and dose of intervention in the study of severe pneumonia are different, so the baseline is difficult to be unified. Suggestions: strengthening the training of researchers, standardize the research process, and report articles in strict accordance with the PRISMA statement; subgroup analysis being conducted according to the dose and duration of the hormone.
Objective
To evaluate the safety and efficacy of dexamethasone intravitreal implant 0.7 mg (DEX) for treatment of macular edema associated with retinal vein occlusion (RVO).
Methods
This study was a six-month, randomized, double-masked, sham-controlled, multicenter, phase 3 clinical trial with a 2-month open-label study extension. Patients with branch or central RVO received DEX (n=129) or sham procedure (n=130) in the study eye at baseline; all patients who met re-treatment criteria received DEX at month 6. Efficacy measures included Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS), best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), and central retinal thickness (CRT) on optical coherence tomography.
Results
Time to ≥15-letter BCVA improvement from baseline during the first 6 months (primary endpoint) was earlier with DEX than sham (P＜0.001). At month 2 (peak effect), the percentage of patients with ≥15-letter BCVA improvement from baseline was DEX: 34.9%, sham: 11.5%; mean BCVA change from baseline was DEX: 10.6±10.4 letters, sham: 1.7±12.3 letters; and mean CRT change from baseline was DEX: ?407±212 μm, sham: ?62±224 μm (all P＜0.001). Outcomes were better with DEX than sham in both branch and central RVO. The most common treatment-emergent adverse event was in-creased intraocular pressure (IOP). Increase sin IOP generally were controlled with topical medication. Mean IOP normalized by month 4, and no patient required incisional glaucoma surgery.
Conclusions
DEX had a favorable safety profile and provided clinically significant benefit in a Chinese patient population with RVO. Visual and anatomic outcomes were improved with DEX relative to sham for 3 - 4 months after a single implant.
ObjectiveTo evaluate the effect of low-to-moderate doses of corticosteroids on human infections with avian influenza A (H7N9) virus, and explore when to initiate the treatment of corticosteroids and the duration of corticosteroids administration.MethodsThe study collected clinical data of 8 cases with avian influenza A (H7N9) virus infection admitted from January 25, 2017 to May 12, 2017. The final analysis included 5 severe patients who had received adjuvant corticosteroid treatment. The variation curves of WBC, CRP, PCT, CK, HBDH, LDH, temperature, ratio of SpO2/FiO2 were depicted and analyzed. The progress of clinical improvements, deterioration and prognosis were observed and discussed.ResultsThere were 1 female and 4 males in the 5 included patients with a median age of 58.0 years, among them 3 survived. The median time of illness onset to hospitalization and diagnosis confirmed were 4 days and 8 days respectively; the median duration of hospitalization to admission to infective ICU were 3 days. The first course of adjuvant corticosteroid treatment was initiated 11 days (median) after admission with a duration of 4 days (median), during which, the serum levels of HBDH and LDH decreased remarkably except the patient 3, and the oxygenation (SpO2/FiO2) improved except the patient 3. The second course of systemic administration of corticosteroid was given at a median of 26.5 days after admission with a duration of 9 days (median), during which, the patients survived with improved oxygenation (SpO2/FiO2), and weaned from mechanical ventilation.ConclusionsFor patients suffered severe human infection with avian influenza A (H7N9) virus, low-to-moderate doses of corticosteroids may decrease the level of inflammation, regulate the aberrant immune response, improve the oxygenation, make an early unassisted breathing. And corticosteroids treatment can be initiated at the time of disease deterioration, after/at the peak inflammatory response, and within 10-14 days of ARDS. Also, the adjuvant corticosteroids may be administered when oxygenation is dificult to be improved by other ways, or dificult to be liberated from mechanical ventilation, suffering severe septic shock, and refractory fever. And the duration of corticosteroids may be prolonged to 10-14 days, or until the higher level of HBDH and LDH decreased again.
Objective To systematically evaluate the effect and safety of systemic corticosteroids for acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Methods Databases including PubMed, EMbase, The Cochrane Library (Issue 6, 2015), Wanfang Data, CBM, CNKI were searched to collect randomized controlled trails (RCTs) about systemic corticosteroids for acute exacerbation of COPD from inception to July 2015. The meta-analysis was conducted using RevMan 5.3 software. Results A total of 11 RCTs involving 1298 patients were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that a statistically significant increase in the treatment success rate when using systemic corticosteroids (RR=1.11, 95%CI 1.01-1.21,P=0.02), and a non-significant difference of effect in the subgroup of emergency department and ICU patients (RR=0.98, 95%CI 0.90-1.08,P=0.74;RR=1.19, 95%CI 0.84-1.69,P=0.34). Conclusions Current studies suggest that systemic corticosteroids is beneficial in terms of treatment success rate, but subgroup analysis shows that this benefit is controversial in emergency department and ICU. however, due to the limited quantity of the included studies, the above conclusions still need more high quality research to be verified.
Objective To explore the effect of early short-term use of low-dose steroids on early acute lung injury (EALI) after video-assisted thoracoscopic lobectomy. Methods Patients who underwent video-assisted thoracoscopic lobectomy in our department from January 2019 to January 2022 were selected for this retrospective cohort study. They were divided into an early steroid treatment group and a control group based on whether steroids were used in the early postoperative period. In the early steroid treatment group, in addition to routine postoperative treatment, low-dose methylprednisolone was administered intravenously, at 80-120 mg/d for 3 consecutive days. In the control group, routine postoperative treatment was given, but no steroids were used in the first 3 days. A chest computed tomography (CT) scan was performed on postoperative day (POD) 1, and POD3 or POD4 to assess lung injury. Chest CT scores, the EALI incidence, the length of hospital stay, and the incidence of poor incision healing were recorded. ResultsA total of 521 patients were included, consisting of 255 males and 266 females, aged 11-80 years. There were 203 patients in the early steroid treatment group and 318 patients in the control group. On POD1, the incidence of EALI was 16.0% in the control group and 13.8% in the steroid group, with no significant difference between the two groups (P>0.05). There was also no significant difference in the CT scores of patients with EALI in the two groups (P>0.05). On POD3/4, the incidence of EALI was 33.6% in the control group and 22.7% in the steroid group, showing a significant difference (P=0.007). When comparing the CT scores of patients with EALI in both groups, the scores were lower in the steroid group, but the difference was not significant (P>0.05). The overall incidence of EALI on POD1-4 was 37.4% in the control group and 26.1% in the steroid group, showing a significant difference (P=0.007). Of these, 28.9% of patients in the control group showed radiological progression, which means new EALI occurred or existing EALI progressed, while the progression rate was 14.8% in the steroid group (P<0.001). The length of hospital stay was significantly shorter in the steroid group compared to the control group (P<0.001), but the incidence of poor incision healing was not (P>0.05). Conclusion Early use of corticosteroids cannot reduce the incidence and severity of EALI on POD1, but it can reduce the incidence of EALI on POD3/4 and decrease the risk of radiological progression, and also lower the overall risk of EALI after surgery, without extended postoperative hospital stays or increased incidence of poor incision healing. Therefore, early postoperative use of low-dose corticosteroids can help to inhibit the occurrence and progression of EALI. It is suggested to use as early as possible especially in patients with high risks of postoperative EALI.
