Steroids for the treatment of viral encephalitis: a systematic literature review and meta-analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Specific antiviral treatment is only available for a small subset of viral encephalitis (VE). Adjunctive steroids are used, but there is scant evidence evaluating its utility. We present a systematic review and meta-analysis on the outcome of steroid use in VE.

Methods

We conducted a systematic literature review and reported it according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) standards. Two observational studies from unpublished or partially published data were added. For the meta-analysis, we employed the metaphor package of the statistical software R-4.3.1.

Results

We screened 378 studies and included 50. 155 patients were added from the Houston and Linz cohorts. Individual data were available for 281 persons, 1

SUBMITTER: Hodzic E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10105360 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature