Pathogenetic therapy of COVID-19: focus on glucocorticoids

ABSTRACT

The problem of preventing excessive production of pro-inflammatory cytokines in the case of COVID-19 remains unre-solved. The use of steroids in the treatment of coronavirus pneumonia remains controversial. To date, there is insufficient literature data for the routine use of steroids in COVID-19 intensive care programs, and this issue remains the subject of continuous research and endless debate. The review of the scientific literature focuses on one of the areas of pathogenetic therapy for COVID-19 — the pre- vention and elimination of hyperproduction of pro-inflammatory cytokines using glucocorticoid drugs. The review presents modern international recommendations on the use of glucocorticoid drugs in severe COVID-19, examines the pathogenetic mechanisms of their action and side effects. © 2022. The Authors. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, CC BY, which allows others to freely distribute the published article, with the obligatory reference to the authors of original works and original publication in this journal.