Effects of glucocorticoids on outcome of patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome / 中国中西医结合急救杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore the effects of early glucocorticoids (GC) therapy on the outcome of patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Methods The clinical data of all ARDS patients admitted from January 2008 to December 2011 in Chengdu Military General Hospital of Chinese PLA were retrospectively analyzed. The adult patients whose diagnosis was in accord to the Berlin ARDS diagnostic criteria published in 2012 were enrolled, and based on whether using glucocorticoid or not, they were divided into GC group and non-GC group. All the patients in GC group received low dosage of intravenous GC within 48 hours after the onset of ARDS, including different kinds of GC, methylprednisolone, dexamethasone and hydrocortisone (hydrocortisone dosage < 5 mg·kg-1·d-1, the dosage of former two kinds of GC being converted to that of hydrocortisone), and the therapeutic course of the two groups was 7 to 21 days. The patients in non-GC group received no GC therapy after the occurrence of ARDS. The duration of mechanical ventilation, the length of intensive care unit (ICU) stay and totally in hospital, medical cost and 28-day survival rate were compared between the two groups. Results One hundred and seventeen patients with ARDS were collected, including 56 cases (47.86%) in GC group and 61 cases (52.14%) in non-GC group. The duration of mechanical ventilation in GC group was significantly shorter than that in non-GC group [days0 (0, 2.50) vs. 2.00 (0, 2.50), Z=2.015, P=0.044]. The 28-day survival rate in GC group was significantly higher than that in non-GC group [71.43%(40/56) vs. 50.82%(31/61),χ2=5.198, P=0.023]. There were no significant differences in the length of ICU stay [days7.50 (2.00, 11.00) vs. 4.00 (1.00, 9.00), Z=1.879, P=0.060] and stay totally in hospital [days16.00 (10.00, 27.75) vs. 15.00 (7.00, 28.00), Z=0.592, P=0.552] between GC group and non-GC group. However, the medical cost in non-GC group was significant lower than that in GC group [10 thousand Chinese yuan3.15 (1.51, 5.78) vs. 4.39 (1.66, 10.88), Z=2.204, P=0.028]. Conclusion The early GC therapy may improve the outcome of patients with ARDS, especially beneficial to the 28-day survival rate.