Advances in Clinical Studies of Glucocorticoids in Severe COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)is acute respiratory infectious disease due to SARS-CoV-2 infection,and the pandemic hit of COVID-19 has affected greatly on people's health.The cytokine storm caused by the infection-induced hy-perinflammatory response is thought to be the primary cause of death in COVID-19 patients,and the glucocorticoids have been widely used in COVID-19 patients due to the powerful anti-inflammatory effect.Glucocorticoids have been used in the treatment of viral pneumonia,such as severe acute respiratory syndrome(SARS)and Middle East respiratory syndrome(MERS),but the improvement effects in long-term prognosis and mortality are still controversial,and are accompanied by many adverse effects.Therefore,the effect of glucocorticoids in the treatment of COVID-19 have been controversial.This article reviews the mechanism,timing,dose,duration and dosage form selection of glucocorticoids in the treatment of severe COVID-19,in order to provide a useful reference for clinical treatment.